


Umbra

by ClaraxBarton



Series: The Umbra Arc [2]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-02-13 11:29:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 136,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2149086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaraxBarton/pseuds/ClaraxBarton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter I

He decided to give Montana a try. He'd never been there before, but he had seen photographs, and it looked like a place where a man could find peace.

Not that he expected to find peace, or deserved it, but he wanted to look for it.

It had been years since he had lived in such complete isolation and seclusion as he was now. The small, weathered cabin he had purchased had a small plot of land attached to it, both more than a three hour drive from the nearest town. He appreciated that, and the fact that he had now gone eight days without seeing another soul.

It was the longest he had ever voluntarily gone without such interaction, and as nice as it had been for the first few days, on the ninth morning he was starting to tire of the sound of just his own voice.

He had wanted time and space to himself, especially in light of recent events in the world at large, but now…now he was thinking that peace would always elude him.

If waking up at dawn, with a bright blue sky overhead and endless green mountains stretched before him wasn't peace, he didn't know what was. The fact the he was still plagued with dark thoughts, dreams, and memories only seemed to emphasize just how unnatural it was for him to be here.

He was contemplating a trip into the local town. He didn't need to get any supplies – wouldn't for another two weeks – but he could use some good old fashioned human interaction.

That plan went out of the proverbial window when he spotted a dust cloud approaching the cabin early in the morning. A car was approaching, and this cabin was out of the way enough that this was no Sunday joyride.

He waited on the porch for his guest. He calculated that the approaching car was driving considerably faster than local law enforcement encouraged, and since all of the locals he had previously encountered approached life from a rather relaxed pace, he concluded that his visitor wasn't from around here.

When the car got close enough for him to make out the silver, classic lines of a vintage Porsche he knew without a doubt that this visit wasn't going to be fun.

The car screeched to a halt amidst a tornado of dust. He waited patiently as the driver got out of the car.

It was a young man, his head a slightly wind-mussed mess of blonde hair. Dark aviator style sunglasses covered his eyes, and the suit he wore might as well have been a sign proclaiming his wealth. The man was loaded and stylish. And he definitely had no business on this piece of property.

"Can I help you?"

"I hope so!" The man smiled brightly and lifted his sunglasses, revealing bright, aquamarine eyes that seemed to be filled with eternal good cheer. The shape of his face and the open smile were eerily familiar. "I'm Quatre Winner."

"Hi, Quatre." He greeted.

"Er… I was looking for someone."

"Looks like you found someone."

"Duo Maxwell?"

Hearing his name on the stranger's lips gave him pause.

"That'd be me," he answered warily.

Quatre's smile widened and he approached the porch, taking the steps up and stopping just a few feet from Duo.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand.

Duo glared at the hand until the blonde dropped it back down to his side.

"I've actually come to ask for your help."

"My help?" Duo couldn't help but smirk at that. "What could I possibly help you with? I'm still new around here, so I can't recommend much."

"I'm sure you're aware of the recent legislation legalizing and regulating the use of magic in the United States?"

Duo felt his heart rate start to accelerate and forced his face to remain neutral. Not that he had had much opportunity for socializing, but in these parts he had been labeled as the charming, misguided city boy who was to be pitied. As far as he could tell, there wasn't a single person in two hundred miles who had a glimmer of magical ability, much less any knowledge of who he was.

"Think I saw something in the papers about it."

"I've been appointed as United States Arbiter to the North American Council."

The North American Council had only recently come out of secrecy after centuries of clandestine rule over magic users and magical beings on the continent. The Council was now a semi-autonomous body that regulated the activities of registered magic users and beings. With the new legislation that recognized and legalized such individuals, the United States government had decided to work with the Council instead of disbanding the powerful body. Duo had heard about the Arbiter – and had been amused that the United States government had granted such an Old World title to the position. The Arbiter was both a liaison between the two bodies, and advisor, and a powerful entity in his own right. It was an ancient title in the magical community, and the revival of it had been a sign that the government was willing to cooperate with the intricate and sometimes outdated ways of the magical community.

"Ridiculous. How old are you, twelve?" The words were out before Duo could stop himself, and he mentally cursed when the blonde looked triumphant at his interest.

"I'm twenty eight, actually, but I assure you, I am extremely well qualified."

Duo sneered. "What, exactly, makes you qualified?"

Quatre reached out and brushed his hand against Duo's forehead. The instant his fingertips touched, Duo felt an electric shock pass through his body.

At first all he felt was a light whisper of mental fingers, brushing over his mind, teasing out his thoughts and memories. Before he even had time to put up much of a defense, the light touch had delved past the surface of his mind, drawing out those same dark thoughts he had been trying to hard to repress. They all came to the surface now, the blood, the despair, the anger, and fear. He experienced them all again as the touch rifled through them like a rolodex.

After a few moments, Duo had had enough and gained enough control of himself to mentally shove the touch away, adding a good dose of physical force as well, and Quatre was soon stumbling backwards, a hand clutching his heart.

Duo was breathing hard, but he was able to regain control of himself in time to see Quatre turn and vomit over the side of the porch. He felt grim satisfaction.

"So much…pain," the blonde panted.

"Don't EVER do that to me again," Duo warned, his voice quiet and deadly.

Quatre nodded in vigorous agreement.

"I just – I wanted to show you."

"That you're an empath? A damned powerful one, too. But you come near my head again and I'll kill you."

"I couldn't find anything good. All of your thoughts – all of your memories! – there's so much pain." There was sadness and pity in those wide blue eyes. Not emotions Duo was used to having directed at him.

Duo shrugged. "You got farther than I wanted you to, but you didn't get to see everything. There's some good stuff, buried deep. Don't you worry." The fact that his good memories were less than a drop in the bucket compared to all of the horror he had experienced wasn't worth mentioning. Nor was it Quatre Winner's business.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got things to do." Duo gestured for Quatre to leave.

"Wait! I'm sorry. That was rude of me. I shouldn't have done that without permission."

"No shit."

"But I need your help."

"You said that already, and once again, there's not much I can do for you."

"I know who you are. I've seen your registration papers."

Duo stiffened at that and turned a full on glare to Quatre.

"Have you now?" When the new legislation had come through last year, one of the key elements had been registration of all individuals who could use magic or were magical beings. Failure to register could result in imprisonment, deportation, or death by the Council. Duo had resented having to register himself, as though he were some sex offender or drug dealer, but the one thing that had soothed him had been the assurance that because of his past and particular abilities, he wasn't in the general registry. To even know that Duo Maxwell existed, one had to have extremely high government clearance. It made sense that the Arbiter would be granted such clearance, but it still grated.

"My job isn't an easy one. I've had a lifetime of experience in delicate negations, and I have a certain skill set that allows me to be very good at it. My empathetic abilities are also a boon. What I don't have is a great deal of experience in the magical community. I don't have a reputation, and I don't have many connections. I need a Consigliore."

"Been in the closet, have you?"

"My family is very well known, and any whisper of impropriety would have been devastating to our status in society."

"Impropriety?" Duo repeated with a smirk.

"That was how my…abilities were viewed, yes."

"So how did you get named Arbiter?"

"My family is very well connected, and my father has long harbored dreams of me going into politics. This is me doing what he wants, and getting to help people like us."

"People like us?" Duo repeated. He liked this kid, he seemed to be good and honest. Pure, even. But that also meant naïve – and Duo wasn't a fan of naivety. "Listen, kid, you and I are not alike."

Quatre frowned slightly. "We have different abilities, but we're both magic users, both interested in protecting innocent people and doing the right thing. You've had more experience, I'm sure."

That clued Duo in to the fact that while Quatre might have seen his registration papers, he had definitely not been allowed to pursue the no doubt extensive file. If he had, there was no way he would believe what he was saying.

"You haven't seen my file," Duo said.

Quatre blushed, caught in his bluff. "Well, no, not really. I asked the FBI for information on a few individuals who might be of use to me, as we move forward into this new era. I was given your name. I was told that you had more experience than most in dealing with magic users, and that you had done work for the government in the past."

Duo snorted.

"Yeah, they definitely gave you the G rated version," Duo muttered.

"I don't understand."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to see that." Duo sighed. "How old do you think I am?"

Quatre shrugged. "You look to be about my age."

"I do look about your age," Duo agreed. He sneered. "That'd be because my race is rather long lived. And I happen to favor being this age. Trust me when I say this – once you start getting up to your forties its starts to go downhill."

"Your race?" Quatre echoed.

"Yeah. Oh – they didn't tell you? I'm not human." Quatre paled considerably, and he was already on the fair side. "I'm a half-breed. Half Dark Court. Half…who knows, but there's not a drop of human blood in me."

"You're half Faerie?"

"Yep. Dark Court, mind you, so… all that sweetness and light you're trying to sell, with the pure heart bullshit you're projecting at me – doesn't do so much for me."

"But – but they told me you were good."

"Good at what I do," Duo muttered. "You came a long way, and on pretty shitty information. I haven't talked to anyone in nine days, so…I'm feeling a bit chatty. Why don't I grab us a few beers and I'll tell you a story."

"I don't drink. And – it's only ten in the morning."

Duo sneered. " I'm sure it's five o'clock somewhere. I'll get some lemonade for you, then."

"That would be lovely."

Duo nodded, gestured towards the battered rocker on the porch, and went inside to fetch drinks.

When he came back out, Quatre was sitting on the edge of the rocker, looking as though he doubted its ability to sustain his weight. Duo passed him a glass of lemonade and then leaned against the porch railing, sipping his beer.

"I'm almost a thousand years old, give or take a few years," he said as an opener. He had timed it so that Quatre was mid sip, and he smirked when the blonde choked on his lemonade.

"One thousand. Years."

"Good to know your hearing works. Whoever told you I used to work for the government – it's funny they should mention that, because there isn't a human alive who was actually around when I worked for the government."

Quatre frowned, but remained silent, letting Duo tell the story at his own pace.

"During the Civil War there was a lot of Old Magic being messed with – especially on the Confederate side. I was contracted to…deal with them. I wasn't working for the United States government, but for the Council. The Union contacted the Council, and I was…loaned out for a few special assignments. Apparently, the promise not to keep files on that wasn't kept."

"I didn't realize."

"Hm. There's a lot you probably don't realize. Your title? Arbiter? Usually the Council appoints an ephemeral they trust to act as Arbiter between them and whatever human powers might interfere with them."

"Ephemeral?"

"Jesus, you don't know anything, do you?" Duo sighed. "Ephemeral – it's what we call people like you. A magic user. You're going to live longer than a regular human, but you've got nothing on one of us – one of the Old Ones. We're either magical beings or really, really power magic users. You've got some power, no kidding there, but the days when a magic user became more than an ephemeral are long past. The blood lines are too diluted. Anyway. Usually, the Arbiter was the servant of a Council member – you do know what I mean by servant, right?"

Quatre nodded. "Yeah, I've been doing some research for the past few years. A servant is a human – or, I suppose, an ephemeral, too, right? – who has been chosen by a magical being as their helper. You get more strength, a longer life span – and your master also gets stronger because of the relationship."

Duo was glad that Quatre did, in fact, seem to some things.

"When do you meet with the Council?"

"Tonight, I'm flying to Las Vegas in a few hours."

Duo nodded, thoughtful. He remembered when the Council had made the move to Vegas, almost thirty years ago now. The fact that most of the higher ranking Council members were vampires had been a prime factor in the relocation. The nightlife and eclectic mix of people in Vegas allowed for more entertainment options than almost anywhere else in the United States. He was glad that Quatre hadn't met with the Council yet. They would eat this innocent child alive, and it was almost embarrassing how unprepared he was.

"So what do you want from me?"

"Your help. It was clear to me before – and even clearer now – that I need someone like you to advise me, I need a Consigliore – and my research suggests that the stronger and more powerful my Consigliore, the more well received I will be by the Council… and you have the ... respect of the United States government. I've been authorized to deputize you as a US Marshal, and you'd be paid –"

"I don't need money, and respect isn't the word I think they used when they described how they felt about me." Duo sighed. He had walked away from the Council more than one hundred years ago, and had never looked back. He had hoped to never become involved with their politics again, but he was deeply worried about Quatre, and humans, if they honestly believed that they stood a chance of holding their own against some of the most powerful, deranged, and manipulative creatures ever to walk the planet.

"I'm not really comfortable with badges," Duo said.

"You need the authority, and the respect, that comes with that badge. As well as being named Arbiter, I am heading up a special task force that will liase between the Council and the FBI to oversee any criminal investigations involving the use of magic."

"This just gets better and better. So – you want me to be your advisor and I have to be a cop?"

"Look, the one thing I was told about you – the one thing I do know is the truth – is that you value human life, and you would do anything in your power to see that innocent humans are protected. I'm asking you to do what you can to make sure that human life is preserved, and that magical people aren't discriminated against."

Quatre was looking at him with big, vulnerable eyes, and Duo had to give in.

"Yeah. Okay. Sure. It'll be fun."

Fun spelled with torture, murder, and centuries of grudges.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duo wasn't used to travelling is the style that Quatre was clearly accustomed to. The Porsche turned out to be a rental car, and when they arrived at the airport in Billings, a private jet was waiting, already fueled, for them. Even though Quatre didn't drink, he directed the stewardess to bring champagne for Duo, as well as an assortment of fresh fruit that had Duo practically purring. If Quatre was trying to win him over, the kid had the right idea – one of Duo's greatest loves was good food, and he thought nothing was better than the taste of fresh fruit.

"So, tell me more about this task force of yours." Duo was always suspicious of human law enforcement, and he wanted to prepare himself for the people he would be working with.

"Wufei Chang is the head of it. He's a…null?" Quatre was testing out the word that Duo had taught him for a human without any magical ability.

Duo frowned and then sighed. His memories of the Inquisition were still all too vivid. He knew what it was like to have a null on the right side of the law. It was never pretty.

"Anyone else?"

"His deputy, Hilde Schiebeker. She's a witch."

"Wiccan?"

"No, she's not at all religious. She's like me – she's just got some natural talent, and a little bit of training."

"You've got more than a bit of training," Duo argued. "I didn't even detect your magic when you first drove up."

"I detected yours. It's like a huge thunderstorm over your head."

Duo smirked. "Yeah, I've heard that from an ephemeral before. If you've been in the closet all of these years, how did you get training?" He had never been good at hiding his magic, had never really tried. Once, he had been accused of actually projecting his magic – as though he was looking for a fight.

Quatre sighed. "My family is Muslim, and my father emigrated here from Saudi Arabia. Have you ever heard of Sufis?"

"The mystics? Those guys that spin around in dresses?"

"Yes, those guys. Well, I spent three years living with some in the desert near Riyadh. I learned a lot from them, especially discipline. Since then, I've never been outed as a magic user. I can conceal my powers from other…ephemerals, and from magical beings."

"Hm. We'll see. The American Council isn't anything like the European Council, but there are some old and powerful bastards on it, all the same."

"As powerful as you?"

Duo snorted. "I worked for them. The weakest member of the Council is still strong enough to give me a run for my money."

"What kind of work did you do?"

Duo's smile was bitter. "Oh, sort of the same thing you're asking me to do."

"What happened to those necromancers, during the Civil War?" There was a certain wariness in Quatre's eyes, and Duo had to give him points for being a quick learner.

"What you always do with a necromancer. I burned them at a stake."

"You – you aren't joking."

"Not at all."

"So, you kill people."

"Not indiscriminately," Duo pointed out.

Quatre still looked shaken.

"Listen, this is why you wanted me. Actually, this is why you need me. That bleeding heart of yours is going to get you killed, and get a whole lot of innocent people killed, tortured, or enslaved. You need someone who's not afraid to get their hands dirty."

"Why do you do it?"

"That, quite frankly, is none of your business." It wasn't a subject Duo ever discussed, because it wasn't a simple discussion, and because it was too personal, too humiliating, for him to share with just anyone. It had been more than a century since he had last told anyone that much about himself, and he wasn't ready to open up again so soon. Especially not to someone he had just met.

"I'm sorry. You don't like me very much."

Duo sighed at the genuinely disappointed look on Quatre's face.

"I like you fine. I like you a lot. But I've met you before – not you, exactly, but ephemerals just like you." Frightningly like him, Duo added to himself.

"I'm guessing this isn't going to be one of those happy memories you've got hidden away."

"Perceptive of you. I've seen you get tortured, raped, murdered – countless times. You have so much faith in yourself, in humanity, but it won't be long before you realize just how wrong you are. It won't be long before the Council has you bowing to their every command." Duo sighed. "Which reminds me, you aren't anyone's servant, are you?"

"No. You're the first magical being I've met. Well, that I knew was a magical being, anyway."

"Right, well, if anyone asks, you're being courted, okay? Because if they realize that you're free, you're going to get conned into being someone's servant, and your life is going to get really shitty really quickly."

"I'm being courted?"

"Yeah, we're old fashioned, so we don't jump into anything. A lot of magical culture is also influenced by French customs, and so there's a lot of unnecessary bullshit and romance, sometimes. When I say I'm courting a human – or an ephemeral – it means I'm trying to convince them to be my servant."

"So I can't be forced into it?"

"Sure you can. Just sounds prettier if I say that I'm courting you instead of saying that I'm threatening to kill your family."

Quatre swallowed hard.

"All of the research I've done suggests that the North American Council is very different from the old, European Council. Different customs, different members. I thought that it was more progressive."

"In some ways, yeah. In others...it's the same as it ever was. Just, at your first meeting, don't do a lot of talking. Let them make their little show of power and look all impressed – but don't be intimidated. Don't agree to any of their demands. Just tell them that everything is under negotiation"

"Are you courting me?"

The question jarred Duo.

"What?"

"If they ask – are you courting me?"

"They won't ask . That would be extremely rude. And… being my servant is not the way to make friends on the Council." Not to mention, a very quick way to get himself killed. The last servant Duo had had…well, it wasn't one of the happy memories he had tucked away.

"Have you ever had a servant?"

"Yes." Quatre looked ready to ask another question, but the look on Duo's face silenced him.

"You really don't have many good memories," Quatre muttered.

"Not many," Duo agreed.

Quatre spent the rest of the flight reading reports, and Duo tried to catch a few hours of sleep. The prospect of having to face his old masters on the Council in just a few hours was not one that filled him with a sense of excitement. He had made a lot of enemies on the Council, and if anyone knew how to hold a grudge, it was someone who had lived for a thousand years or more.

When they arrived in Las Vegas they were met by a chauffeur, who promptly informed Quatre that Agent Chang and Schiebeker had requested his presence at a crime scene. So, before Duo had even been on ground for ten minutes, they were off, already elbow deep in problems.

The Council meeting had been scheduled for one A.M. Duo explained to Quatre that it was a clear snub – any of the night dwellers on the Council were old enough and powerful enough to be awake at dusk, and making Quatre wait four hours after sundown for the meeting was forcing him to bend to their will. Duo supposed that, at the very least, this would be a way to kill time between now and the meeting.

The car drove them to an upscale condominium complex just off of the Strip, and as they rode the elevator up to the thirtieth floor, Duo got his first good look at Las Vegas. He had never been here. Not before the Council moved, and certainly not after. It was a glowing city, and he could practically taste the pulse of human life. Magic seemed to swirl through the air, and he wondered just how many Old Ones had relocated to the city.

When they arrived at their floor, the elevator doors slid open and they were greeted by a wall of blue uniforms. Duo grinned. He had never been to a human criminal investigation before – at least, not after the fact – and he was a little excited about the prospect of the new experience.

Quatre flashed the men a badge, and they parted like the Red Sea.

"Hm, will my badge let me do that too?" Duo asked as he followed the blonde man down the hall. Quatre gave him an arch look.

"I thought you didn't like badges."

Duo shrugged. "I dunno. Never really worn one. I should probably give it a try."

They walked to the last door on the left, but even before they arrived Duo could taste the recent death that hung in the air. That, and the powerful, emanating sense of dark magic pervaded the air. Unconsciously, he moved in front of Quatre.

"The area has been secured," Quatre scoffed, moving aside and then glaring when Duo moved with him, still blocking his path.

"By who?" Duo wanted to believe that his instinct to protect Quatre was nothing, but he started to examine his motives and realized that it was more. Quatre did remind him of ephemerals he had met before, but especially one in particular, and Duo knew that it was going to cause trouble. He sighed and stepped away so that Quatre could pass.

"Wufei and Hilde. I'm sure she can sense the magic just as well as I can, so she wouldn't have cleared it if it wasn't safe. Let me do my job." His eyes had a steely look in them.

"Right, but if you want me to do mine, then can we use a little caution? Don't touch anything, please."

Duo could see Quatre's exasperation and confusion, but the blonde gestured for Duo to proceed him.

What Duo saw immediately wanted to turn around and go back to Montana. He did NOT want to deal with this shit again.

The condo had been lavishly decorated in white – furniture, carpet, walls, accessories. Of course, most of that was now in shades of red and pink, with a majority of the blood concentrated in the center of the room. A woman's body was spread eagled, her skin split and peeled back from sternum to groin, and her body seemed to have been emptied of her internal organs, leaving an empty cavity behind.

Behind him, Quatre started to retch again. Duo made a mental note about working on that. It wouldn't do for the Arbiter to be throwing up every time he saw blood or a bad dream.

The room was clear except for two people. Quatre introduced them.

"Wufei, Hilde, this is Duo Maxwell. He is my new Consigliore."

Wufei Chang was tall and built like an athlete, his body a lean frame of muscle. His hair was shoulder length, but he wore it pulled back into a tight ponytail that pinched his already severe features. Duo had a strange desire to see the man with his hair loose. He imagined that it would change his face significantly.

Hilde Schiebeker, meanwhile, was petite and delicate looking. Her dark hair was cut boyishly short, and her long bangs framed large, dark eyes. Her magic brushed against him like waves in the sea, playful and enticing. Duo fell in love with her at first glance.

Duo grinned and waved. Hilde looked up from poking at the body with a stylus and gloved fingers to grin back.

Wufei looked on with a scowl.

"What are you?" He asked, his voice filled with disdain.

Duo looked at Quatre, who gave him an apologetic shrug.

"Well, according to Quatre I'm a US Marshal."

"That isn't what I meant."

"Wufei's big into defining people," Hilde confided.

"How's he define you?" Duo asked, ignoring the man in question.

Hilde shrugged. "Misguided but harmless."

"Harmless?" Duo echoed. There was no doubt that Hilde's appearance didn't indicate a force to be reckoned with, but her magic, as friendly as it seemed, was definitely powerful. He looked over her head at Quatre. Clearly, the blonde had reached the same conclusion.

"You need training," Duo said to her, "but even now you're anything but harmless."

She smirked and gave Wufei a knowing look.

"I don't like repeating myself," Wufei spoke up.

Duo rolled his eyes. He could tell that they were going to be such good friends.

"I'm not human, and that's as much as a null like you needs to know."

"A null?" Hilde echoed.

Duo sighed and gestured to the angry Chinese man.

"Reach out with your magic. Try to…shape it around him. Can you feel anything? And kind of resonance? Any echo?"

Hilde had to close her eyes, which meant that she definitely needed more training so that she could learn to focus with her eyes open. Duo stood at her side, and he could feel her reaching out towards Wufei.

"Nothing." She said.

"Right – now try Quatre. Um, Quatre, would you mind…spilling out just a bit?" Duo asked.

The blonde smiled, and an instant later a flood of lightness seemed to fill the room.

"Um, spill a little bit less, please," Duo instructed.

"Sorry. I'm not used to this." Quatre tried to pull some of his magic back in, leaving just a faint hint of what felt like sunshine on Duo's skin.

"I can feel him. He's…bright."

"Yep. He certainly is."

"What about you?" Hilde asked, turning to Duo.

"Um…we'll save that for another day. But, my point is, you can sense other magic users. Someone is a null if they have no Chang here is a classic null."

"I don't need to magic to do my job," Wufei growled.

Duo shrugged, really not in the mood to argue the point. He stepped closer to the body and instantly felt as though he had walked into a wall. He stumbled back with a curse.

With the others looking at him in confusion, Duo circled around the body, his hand extending, as he tried to feel the source of the interference. He made an entire loop but could feel no way past the magical barrier.

"Shit. How did you get in there?" He asked, looking at Hilde.

She blinked.

"Um, well, it was a bit complicated – you know, but I just did it one step at a time. Walking."

Duo could appreciate sarcasm, and God knew he liked to dish it out, but now was so not the time. He glared.

"The barrier – how did you get past it?"

"What barrier?"

"You don't – you can't feel the dark magic?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty faint though. We've already determined that the perp was a Super – er, sorry, that's our word for a magic user or magical being, short for supernatural – and that he, or she, was probably in the middle of some ritual. It looks like it wasn't finished, though."

"Ritual?" Duo had never pretended to care about rituals – that wasn't how he used his magic, and so he didn't care. He knew, however, that a lot of ephemerals relied on them to focus their will and their magic. "Do you have much experience in rituals?"

Hilde blushed. "A little. Not much. I joined a coven a few weeks ago, and I'm starting to work on it."

Duo nodded and looked past her to Quatre.

"She needs training. Do you have the time?"

Quatre looked uncertain. "Wouldn't you be better?"

"No way. Look, magic comes in all shapes, but it's…it's like this island, surrounding by shark infested water, and each of us find a way to get to it. Some people use a bridge, some people might use a boat, or a plane. And some of us just swim to it."

"What about the sharks?" Wufei asked sarcastically.

"Well, some of us scare the sharks more than they scare us. My point is, Quatre's magic is like… the Golden Gate bridge. It's good, it's solid. It's bright," he added, using Hilde's earlier description. "Hilde's is a little different, but it's still… light. Mine is something different, and the way I do things isn't the way I want her to learn how to. It's better if Quatre teaches her."

"Then I'll make the time," Quatre decided.

"Great, now that we've got that worked out. What kind of ritual?"

"Something dark – obviously. I can't detect any kind of signature on her – she's ah, a null, I guess. So I'm not sure why she was the vic. There are a few runes here, drawn in her blood. They're gateway runes though – directing energy somewhere." Hilde frowned as she pointed them out, and Duo vaguely recognized them. It had been a long time since he had had to deal with witchcraft.

She stood and started to walk towards him.

"Wait! Stop!" The command came from Quatre, and all of them whirled to look at him. "Sorry." He looked sheepish. "I just…I have a bad feeling. I don't think she should move."

Duo shrugged, taking it in stride. He had known empaths before who could sense the future, and he didn't question it.

"Directing what kind of energy?" Wufei asked, speaking up for the first time in several minutes.

Hilde frowned and turned back to the body and the bloody writing.

"Hm. It's not… it's… look at these two. Thurisaz and Ansuz, right by the gateway rune. I don't understand."

"Thurisaz – that's supposed to drive you crazy, right?" Duo asked, wracking his memory.

"It can," Hilde said.

"And what's Ansuz?"

"Good fortune…and. Oh shit." Her face went pale and she looked up to meet Duo's eyes.

"WHAT?" Wufei demanded.

"Immortality. The divine in humans."

"Magic," Duo translated for both Wufei and Quatre.

"Shit. Oh fucking, fucking shit." Hilde's mind was clearly as quick and cynical as Duo's own. She had immediately figured out her predicament.

"What? I – no. That isn't possible. You said that the vic wasn't magical." Wufei, too, had caught on. Duo looked back to see Quatre, pale and silent, and was glad that they were also such smart people.

"She isn't. She – damnit." Hilde ran one hand through her hair and gingerly reached out, her fingers tracing the same circle that Duo had found earlier. "This wasn't here before," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

"She was just the sacrifice to make the circle," Duo surmised. He sighed. "How long has your task force been assembled?" He asked Wufei the question.

The Chinese man frowned. "Six months, right when the legislation started to pick up momentum in Congress. Agent Schiebeker and I have been on site for the last four months, training our unit and working some smaller cases. This… this is the first thing like this we've encountered."

"So you haven't met any Old Ones?" They looked confused. "Magical beings? Supers? Whatever you call them."

"A few magic users," Hilde spoke up. There was a catch in her voice, but she seemed determined to remain calm. Duo was proud of her. It wasn't often that humans impressed him, but Quatre and Hilde had both done so very quickly. "No vampires, or shifters, or anything else."

"Hm. You two piss off any of these magic users?"

Wufei glared. "No, every one of them seemed so thankful that we arrested them and put them in silver cuffs. A few even wrote love letters."

"I can certainly understand their motivation," Duo shot back with a glare at Wufei.

"We need to get her out of there," Quatre interrupted their staring match.

"Yeah, that get's my vote too," Hilde said.

Duo ran a hand through his hair.

"This circle was made by an ephemeral – magic user – and it was made through a blood ritual. So… best way to cancel it out is more blood."

"You want me to open a vein?" Hilde asked, already grabbing her pocket knife.

"No!" Quatre and Duo shouted at the same time. They exchanged looks.

"That would be a very, very bad idea," Duo explained. "This ritual wants your blood. I think that's why Thurisaz was used. You need to bleed to complete this. No, it's got to be one of them." He gestured to Wufei and Quatre.

"Why us?" Wufei growled. "I'm sure you bleed just as well."

Duo smirked.

"My blood stays in my body. Sorry, kid," he added with an apologetic look at Hilde. "You don't want to deal with what happens when I start to bleed." And neither did he. Not after last time. He shuddered at the memory.

Quatre was looking a little squeamish, and so Duo turned to Wufei with a sigh.

"Looks like you're up, champ."

"I'm not –"

"Look, either you start dripping some red or she's going to die. Do what I tell you."

"You aren't my superior."

"Oh, sure I am. In every way." Duo said with a mocking grin.

"Wufei, please." The plea was from Hilde, and Duo watched as the Chinese man closed his eyes and seemed to resign himself to his fate.

"What do I do?" He demanded a moment later, opening his eyes and looking at Duo with a curiously blank expression.

"Well…" Duo paced as he thought. While he didn't know much about casting ritual magic, he had plenty of experience in breaking it. He couldn't count the number of times he had had to fight against witches.

"We need a talisman, something protective and aggressive. A knife would do… any chance any of you have a blessed knife?" They all looked at him blankly. He sighed. "Okay, that should be at the top of your equipment requisition list," he said to Wufei. "How about something silver?"

"My wedding band," Wufei said after a moment.

Duo arched an eyebrow. "My sweat is too acidic – it tarnishes gold. And silver – it doesn't matter." The Chinese man withdrew a silver chain from his neck, a silver ring dangling from it.

"That's actually pretty handy," Duo mused. And then, because his brain took interesting paths, he speculated on who the uptight man could possibly have convinced to marry him.

"What do I do with it?" Wufei demanded.

"Oh, right. Well, you need to bleed on it, and then we'll see if you can use it to cut her out."

"It's that simple?"

Duo shrugged. "Maybe. My guess is that this was a trap set for you two – and that whoever did it knew you wouldn't be able to figure out how to get her out. So… this was probably a really efficient plan. Except, of course, I showed up." Duo smirked.

Just then, Hilde shrieked. The sound was low, like that of a wounded animal, and she was clutching at her abdomen.

"What? What happened?" Wufei demanded.

"It's the spell," Quatre was starting to sweat, and Duo noticed him reaching for his own stomach. "It's starting to work on her. The body – it's acting like a…a voodoo doll or something. It feels like her organs are on fire."

Wufei went very pale, and even Duo started to worry. Hilde started to writhe on the floor, blood quickly soaking through her clothes. Behind them, Quatre sank to his knees, his jaw locked against the pain he was experiencing through Hilde.

"Does it help her – you feeling it?" Duo asked.

"A little, I'm trying to take as much as I can," Quatre panted.

"Keep it up, then," Duo said and then turned back to Wufei.

"Any time you're ready there, champ."

Wufei glared at Duo, but a cry from Hilde had him pulling out military issue pocket knife and slicing into the palm of his hand. A thick well of blood quickly formed and Wufei clutched the ring into it.

"Now what?" He demanded.

"Try to – you know, trace it against the barrier."

Wufei scowled and walked over to Hilde. He held the bloody ring up and started to draw a line towards the floor.

It took a moment, but then Duo felt it. The quiver of magic as the circle started to disintegrate.

"Quatre – shut it down! Pull back into yourself!" He directed in sudden alarm. He was remembering a broken circle, centuries ago, that had collapsed and killed the two ephemerals trying to fix it.

"But, Hilde – "

"Do it!" Duo ordered.

Quatre's drawn face met his own and seemed to accept his command. Duo instantly felt the room grown dimmer, and he was a little awed at just how much power Quatre had been exerting. As soon Quatre's magic disappeared, Hilde's sobs turned into screams. Duo winced.

Wufei finally managed to break the circle, and the wave of dark magic that exploded outward was intense. Quatre fell over backwards, and Duo could feel the electric chill of the magic deep in his bones. Whoever had set this circle was no witch out for a lark, but someone with some serious power. Which begged the question – why go after Hilde Schiebeker?

His musings were ended by the police charging into the room, guns out, fear and confusion all over their faces.

He focused on Hilde, who was currently cradled against Wufei, the fierce man's eyes daring anyone to comment.

"Those two?" Duo asked, looking at Quatre.

"No," Quatre panted, standing again. "They're just partners. He, ah, he's still pretty much devoted to his wife. Ex wife."

Duo looked at the two again. Maybe he was reading too much into the embrace, but after a millennia of observing human interaction, he was pretty sure he could differentiate between friendly and romantic affection, and this definitely looked like the latter.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was another hour before they headed back to Quatre's penthouse apartment at the Aria. They saw Wufei and Hilde off to the hospital, and Quatre had to fill out paperwork for a while.

"Not much time before the meeting," Duo commented after looking at his watch.

Quatre gave him a tired look.

"I have a feeling that my introduction to the Council isn't going to be any more fun than yours to Hilde and Wufei.'

Duo smiled grimly.

"Nonsense, that was plenty fun. Haven't had so much fun in ages." Duo clapped a hand on Quatre's shoulder.

"Nice place you've got here," he commented as he walked through the high tech, very posh surroundings.

"You are welcome to stay as long as you like," Quatre offered.

"No thanks. I'll find a place tomorrow, but I would like to use your shower."

Quatre nodded and gestured for Duo to follow him.

"Of course. Your things are in the guest room. I, ah, what should I change into?" He gestured to the travel rumpled suit he had been wearing for no doubt a full day now.

"Here's the thing – the Old Ones on the Council have been around for, well, a LONG time. The longer you live, the more everything starts to feel the same – the only thing that really breaks up the monotony is, ah, how to put this delicately?" Duo tapped a finger on his lips while Quatre looked at him intently. Duo shrugged. "I don't think there is a delicate way. So, here goes: the Old Ones love to fuck humans. Simple as that. You all fascinate us. You're so different, so fragile – it's… pretty much one of our favorite pastimes."

Quatre's cheeks went red.

"So, with that in mind, dress to impress, ok?" Duo grinned, saluted him with two fingers, and shut the door in his face.

After a qucik, scalding shower he laid out his clothes on the bed, staring at the uniform he had thought never to put on again. The black leather pants were well worn, but an enchantment cast on them many years before meant that they still looked supple and new. The high collar black shirt was still crisp and severe. The black boots still polished and his throwing knives still tucked into the insides of each. He put on the familiar clothes and stared at himself in the mirror.

He was intimidating in the unrelieved black, and the dark clothes made his already pale skin look alabaster. Only his long braid of hair and his dark, indigo eyes offered a relief from the severe palette. He grinned at himself, the old grin that promised a slow, painful death.

The God of Death was back.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What most of the tourists in Las Vegas hadn't realized for decades – and likely still did not – was that the North American Council owned – if not outright, then at least a controlling interest – in nearly every casino on the Strip. Mandalay Bay was owned by the Head of the Council, and was the current headquarters for the Council.

Quatre led Duo through the crowds of humans, most drunk and stumbling about, towards the private elevators in the main lobby.

The air was thick with magic, old and powerful magic, from multiple sources, and it was throwing off Duo's equilibrium. It was also giving him flashbacks, and he had to force himself to bury his memories even deeper. He couldn't afford to let his past affect the present – and he definitely couldn't afford the risk of letting the Council know his weaknesses.

They took a private elevator to a penthouse at the top of the hotel, far away from all of the humans, and every foot they seemed to rise only increased the feeling of magic. Quatre seemed to sense it just as readily as Duo, and he watched as the blonde grew progressively tense the higher they rose.

When they at last arrived, they were greeted by two vampires. They were old – at least two hundred years or so – and powerful enough that it was clear they were supposed to act as bodyguards and bouncers.

"I am Quatre Winner. I have an appointment." Duo had instructed Quatre to act as if he owned the world, and the blonde seemed to be falling into the role with ease.

One of the vampires gestured for them to follow, and they did, the other vampire falling into step behind them.

The last time Duo had been to a Council meeting, it had been in Chicago, while that city was still new and full of danger. The meeting had been held in a brothel – a favorite front for the vampire who had been the Head of the Council at the time – and the Council had sat at the traditional round table.

It seemed that times had changed, however, because the large room they were led to had no round table, nor a table of any kind. It was a living room of some kind, filled with couches and arm chairs, each occupied by a man or woman who looked like a fashion model or movie star. Around the perimeter of the room there were a few more men and women. Seated at the feet of a few of the Council members were shape shifters in their animal forms. It was all a bit surreal, with the floor to ceiling windows on two sides of the room revealing the colorful skyline of Las Vegas, and the room practically reeking with magic.

He cleared his throat and Quatre seemed to remember himself.

"Good evening," he said, the model of good breeding and class, even in his electric blue silk shirt and fitted black pants. He looked like a GQ cover, and Duo was smirked internally when he noticed several Council members eyeing him.

"Welcome, Quatre Winner," a familiar, urbane voice spoke up. Duo felt chills travel down his spine.

Seated in a large, red leather armchair was a tall, aristocratic man with short, honey colored hair and piercing blue eyes. His wide, thin lips were curled into a smirk.

"I am Treize Khusrenada, the Head of the North American Council."

When Duo had last seen Treize, he had been a Council member, but he had not even been third in line for the throne. Duo wondered what had happened to change all of that.

"Ah… and look! You brought an old friend." Treize focused his gaze on Duo, and the look in his cold eyes was far from friendly. There was a large lion stretched out at Treize's feet, his massive head close to the man's knee, and Treize idly stroked his dark, reddish mane as he continued to hold Duo's gaze.

"The last time I saw you…why, I do believe you were disavowed from the Council, weren't you?" Treize turned away from Duo and looked at a woman seated to his right. She looked like an older, taller and infinitely more dangerous version of Hilde.

"For the murder of your maker," the woman supplied.

"Yes, yes, that's right. Thank you for reminding me, Lucrezia." Treize turned his cold gaze to Quatre.

"Did you bring him here to purposefully insult me?" He asked, his tone idle and deadly.

Quatre clearly had no idea how to proceed, and remained silent. The silence stretched, awkward and unbearable. Finally, Treize broke it with a brittle laugh.

"I'm only joking, of course. My maker deserved to be executed. Really, he did all of us a favor. Noventa was getting a little too set in his ways, and, well… we needed a change." Treize shrugged eloquently. "But I am curious, after Mr. Maxwell's very entertaining exit, he promised never to return to our service. Why did you bring him here?"

"He is my Consigliore," Quatre replied, his equilibrium back and his posture ramrod straight.

"What an interesting choice." Treize smirked again and leaned back into his chair. The lion at his feet laid his head down on his paws, large, intelligent green eyes regarding Duo and Quatre.

"Well," Treize said after a stretch of silence that Quatre refused to break. "It is with pleasure that I welcome you as the Arbiter between the Council and the United States Government."

Quatre inclined his head.

"Who was the last Arbiter, again?" Treize asked, his gaze shifting past Quatre to rest on Duo.

"Anthony Quinn," Lucrezia helpfully supplied. Her dark eyes seemed to be laughing at Duo.

"That's right. He was an empath, too, wasn't he?"

Quatre looked jarred. Treize chuckled.

"Oh – was it a secret that you were an ephemeral? I am ever so sorry. What ever did happen to Anthony Quinn? If I recall, he was actually quite useful to us. And an exceedingly powerful empath."

"Your maker had him executed." Lucrezia said, her tone suggesting that she was discussing the weather.

Duo forced himself to bury all possible emotion. He knew Treize well, and he knew the game the man was playing.

Treize's eyes were narrowed to mere slits.

"Hm. Why again?"

"His master committed treason against the Council."

"Oh yes, yes of course." Treize focused his gaze on Duo. "Should we expect history to repeat itself?"

"Well, since your maker isn't around to get his head cut off, I'd say things might go a little differently this time around," Duo said before he could help himself.

There was a moment of silence, and then Treize laughed. Most of the Council followed his example.

"Oh, I have missed you, Maxwell. See to it that you take better care of this one, hm?" Treize waved a hand in dismissal. "I will have my servant contact you Mr. Winner. I do hope you have a pleasant evening."

Quatre looked back at Duo, a little unsure of how to proceed. Duo jerked his head towards the door, and Quatre bowed and turned on his heel, leading the way out of the room.

It wasn't until they were out of the hotel and walking down the Strip at a brisk, angry pace that Quatre spoke.

"What the hell just happened?" He demanded.

Duo laughed, he couldn't help it. The tension from the meeting, coupled with this pale, fragile man turning to glare at him as though he could actually do anything to Duo – it was too much.

It was a few minutes before Duo could control himself, and he was sure he had given plenty of tourists fodder for their 'guess what happened in Vegas' tales.

"I'm sorry. I, ah, that was my fault."

"Obviously." Quatre sighed, and much of his anger seemed to fade away. "Who was Anthony Quinn?"

Duo's jaw clenched. "The last Arbiter. He was appointed back in 1878. After he… died, they didn't bother to appoint another one."

"Why?"

"Didn't seem much point. The nulls seemed to be blissfully unaware that a massive war had just taken place on their own continent –" Quatre's face showed his confusion – "yeah, my point exactly. After the Civil War ended, there was a lot of bad blood between those who had chosen sides and those who didn't – as I mentioned before, a lot of manipulation of humans occurred during that war. So, there was a good fifteen years of war between factions on the Council. But the nulls didn't seem to notice, and in 1900, when Anthony died, they left the position open."

"So I'm the first Arbiter in over a hundred years?"

"Yep. Don't you feel special."

"Who was Anthony Quinn?" Quatre repeated the question, and Duo knew he wanted a different answer.

"My servant." The admission brought on a fresh wave of guilt and fury.

Quatre was silent for only a moment.

"They said you committed treason? Was that when you killed Treize's maker?"

"No, that was after." Duo scrubbed his face with his hands. "Listen, is there anywhere we can grab a bite to eat?"

Quatre's eyes were filled with sympathy, and Duo was getting very tired of seeing that emotion there.

"Sushi okay?"

"I love sushi," Duo said, trying to muster up some enthusiasm.

Quatre managed to flag down a cab, and a few minutes later they were seated on the patio at an upscale Japanese restaurant, the deep bass thrum of music and flashing lights making it feel more like a club than a restaurant.

"So," Duo started again once they had a bowl of edamame settled between them. "I should probably explain just what, exactly I used to do for the Council."

"That would be nice."

"They have a name for me – well, I'm sure they have a few. They call me the God of Death."

Quatre frowned. "Why?"

"Couple of reasons. Turns out I'm damn hard to kill, myself, but also turns out I'm really, really good at killing other people. Back in the Old World I was the European Council's Executioner for three hundred years. I immigrated to the United States and I served the American Council in the same capacity. So, they call me the God of Death."

"You killed for them."

"Yeah. But, during the Fifteen Year War, things got a little…murky. Half the Council was plotting to overthrow the other half, and the Head was killed early on. There was never a majority to vote on who should become the next Head, so the throne was empty for twelve years. Which meant there was no one to give me orders. I, ah, took justice into my own hands, and eventually we managed to restore order."

"We?"

"Yeah, me, and a few Council members who weren't crazy bastards. Anyway, order was restored, Noventa was chosen as the new Head, and we had a few years of peace. Anthony was appointed to be the Arbiter."

"So, you had peace for… twenty two years. Then what happened?"

"Well, someone decided that I should be punished for carrying out executions without a warrant. In case you didn't guess, that someone was Treize. So, I was found guilty of treason against the Council." This part was hard to tell, mostly because he already relived it each night when he closed his eyes. "I, ah, I can't be executed by the American Council – which is a long story not worth telling – so, because that was the judgment passed, they decided to execute the next best thing. My servant." The look on Anthony's face when that verdict had been announced still haunted him – that quiet acceptance.

Quatre was frowning.

"Yep. So, ah, they decided to execute him like they would have executed me."

"I don't understand."

Duo sneered. "Well, with tricky bastards like me, you can't just cut off the head and burn the heart. You've got to encase them in silver – just to make sure that I'm never resurrected."

"Encased in –" Quatre abruptly broke off.

"Yep. Poured molten silver onto him."

"While he was alive?"

"Of course." Duo couldn't add more details – couldn't tell him that he had been the one to tie Anthony's hands and remove his clothes and talismans. He wouldn't tell him that Anthony had remained silent, tears streaming down his face, as the silver burned over his flesh. Anthony had been a powerful empath, likely more powerful – or at least better trained – than Quatre. He and Duo had perfected the art of sharing and projecting thoughts and emotions, to the point where they could hold an entire conversation without actually speaking. But that day, as Anthony slowly and painfully died before his eyes, Duo could feel nothing. Anthony shut him out so completely that it was as though no connection had ever existed.

"I – that's barbaric."

"Well, Noventa was an old Roman soldier." Duo shrugged.

"So, you killed him for killing your servant?"

"Hell yes." He had enjoyed every second of that crusty relic's pain, and had taken vicious delight in pouring molten silver down his throat, burning him up from the inside out. Cutting his head off had just been for show, the vampire could not have survived the silver inside of him.

"Why wasn't that treason?"

"It was. But, like I said, the American Council can't kill me. So, I was disavowed and I walked away."

"Disavowed?"

"Yeah – my authority as Executioner was revoked. If I kill another Old One, I'll be put in a silver box for a century."

"But they can't kill you."

"They can sure as hell try," Duo muttered.

"So, most of those Council members hate you."

"Not at all. As Treize said – I did them a fucking favor. Now, they're running it the way they always wanted to. Noventa was Old World, and they are very New World. They're afraid of me, is what they are. In all of our history, no one had ever dared to assassinate a Council Head without support from other Council members."

Quatre was frowning again, looking thoughtful. "So, this works in our favor, a bit."

"Yeah, I suppose so. Don't get me wrong – there isn't a fan club or anything."

"Duo, I'm sorry about Anthony."

Duo knew that Quatre was sincere, he could feel the fresh wave of sympathy from the blonde, but there was no possible way that Quatre could come close to understanding the loss that Duo had experienced. To punish himself, and Quatre, he spoke again.

"He was with me for fifty years. Average lifespan of an ephemeral is about one hundred, hundred and twenty years. If you're a servant, that'll give you another fifty years or more – depending on how powerful your master is. He'd still be with me now, if he wasn't a fucking statue."

"You were…lovers?"

Duo inclined his head once.

"Are all servants and masters like that?"

"No. Take Treize – there's no way he'd screw Une, ever. He chose her because she's a devious bitch who is devoted to helping him take over the world. Most of us, though, we choose our servants because we want more time with them."

"They seemed to assume I was already your servant."

"Yeah, well…" Duo sighed and went for broke. "You like just like him. It's downright creepy, come to think of it. His eyes were more green, though, and he had a bit of a tan – not like your pale self."

That kept Quatre quiet for a few, long moments. Duo ate, the food tasting strangely like ashes in his mouth.

"Did you know tonight would go like this?" Quatre eventually asked.

"Yeah, I had a pretty good idea that it would."

"You came anyway."

"You need my help. Besides, I've got nothing better to do."

He felt the wave of warmth and sunlight Quatre directed at him and he fought against it, refusing to give in to the feelings.

"Duo."

He looked up into eyes that were so familiar, and yet very different. He sighed and closed his eyes and let Quatre Winner's dazzlingly magic grant him a moment of peace.

He knew that it would end soon enough.

tbc

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Definitions:

Council: the body that presides over magical creatures and users in the US. The Old Council refers to the European Council.

Dryad: A nature spirit, like a Sprite. Another Old One. Usually associated with a tree, and different 'families' of Dryads are associated with different trees.

Ephemeral: a human who can use magic. Used interchangeably with witch.

Jinn: alternately Djinn or Genie. They are spirits, supposedly created by God (if you're Muslim), and can be good or bad.

Old Ones: the powerful magical races. Vampires, Shape shifters, Faeries, and a few more to be named later!

Old Ways: reference to the way that the European Council ran things or the way things were before magic was legal. Sally Po refers to the old ways – a reference to the practices of Native American Shamans, and NOT the Council.

Null: a human without magical ability.

Shaman: A Native American mystic or holy person. Used in this context to mean an Ephemeral.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter 2

As a reward for himself surviving his first night back in magical society without killing anyone, Duo took the next day off. Since Quatre was convinced that Treize's human servant, Lady Une, would show up at his office any moment to discuss the future, Duo left him to his own devices, confident that Une wouldn't show up today or any day that week.

His first order of business was to find an apartment. Chez Winner was fantastic, but Duo was used to living on his own, and he didn't relish sharing living space with the overly optimistic and disturbingly chipper morning person that Quatre turned out to be.

One of the perks of being a millennia old was a lot of interest accrued on his investments. For a long time, Duo had lived as a near vagrant, but during the eighteenth century he had fallen in with a group of high-living courtiers in France and decided to start creating his own fortune. Now, three hundred years later, he could live as lavishly as he wanted. The fact that his personal preferences still tended more towards austere meant that his wealth had remained largely untouched.

He debated with himself whether or not to look for a house in the suburbs off the Strip, but the allure of living amidst the neon, pulsing heart of the city drew him and he bought a two bedroom condo in a tower complex just behind Planet Hollywood. The condo was new and came completely furnished. Duo appreciated that, as well as the view of the Strip out of the floor to ceiling windows that lined one wall of the living room and one wall of the master bedroom.

Since he had never been in Las Vegas before the previous day, he decided to explore the city. He was fascinated by just how harsh the desert sun was on the buildings. It made the city look like a peeling, scarred woman trying desperately to hide her age.

The main part of the Strip stretched from Mandalay Bay north to the Stratosphere, and then there was a small wasteland of strip clubs and run down wedding chapel that divided the newer part of Las Vegas from the older and more downtrodden Downtown.

It was late evening when Duo finally wandered to the oldest part of the city, and he felt strangely at ease among amidst the vagrants, drunks, and sad looking prostitutes. He wondered what that said about HIM, but shrugged it off and decided to get a drink at a piano bar called "Don't Tell Mama."

He commandeered a booth towards the back of the bar that offered an excellent view of the rest of the bar but was far enough away from the stage that he could hear himself think.

"Duo Maxwell. As I live and breathe, I thought you had crawled under a rock and died."

The drawl didn't suit the familiar, urbane voice, and Duo sneered as he turned around.

"Zechs Merquise. I didn't realize never again would arrive so fast."

The tall blonde man chuckled and joined Duo at his booth.

He looked good, Duo reluctantly decided. As good as he ever had. His skin had a healthy glow to it, his ice blue eyes were sharp and intelligent as ever, and his white blonde hair was loose and flowing down his back. He was dressed differently than when Duo had last seen him – but then, even Zechs couldn't pull off a frock coat forever. He was dressed in the current fashion, his long legs made to look longer in the fitted dark jeans and calf high boots. His gray dress shirt was fitted, and showed off his toned upper body to perfection.

He ordered a mojito, which earned him a caustic look by the scantily clad, large breasted waitress.

"Still drinking those I see?" Duo asked.

"I did make them popular in the first place," Zechs said with a prideful sniff.

When the waitress returned with his drink, he held her hand and her gaze and thanked her. She turned red, smiled, and started to giggle.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Leave her alone," he muttered.

Zechs released her hand with a shrug, and a confused look appeared on her face as Zechs ended the Glamour he had cast on her.

"Run along," Zechs said, waving his hand in dismissal.

She did as ordered, and Duo sank back into his seat.

"Pretty sure the new legislation makes it illegal to use magic on someone without their consent," Duo said.

"Is the Executioner threatening me?" Zechs asked with a smirk.

"I don't need the Council's permission to kill you."

"That's right – you've found yourself a new Ephemeral Arbiter." Zechs made a 'tsking' sound. "You, of all people, should understand why we call them Ephemerals. They just don't last long enough, do they?"

Duo remained silent, a real struggle for him.

"Treize was so very happy to see you again. I'm sorry that I couldn't make the meeting – I had business elsewhere to attend to."

"Yes, and I had been so looking forward to seeing you again." Duo affected the same highbrow tone and accent that Zechs always used. It irritated him when the Old Ones insisted on retaining silly affectations like accents. After all, if you lived somewhere for more than a hundred years, chances are that you would lose your accent. For Duo, it had always been a game – whenever he learned a new language or dialect, he wholeheartedly embraced it and attempted to sound native as soon as he could.

"Some of the Council think we should petition for your execution," Zechs said, his tone conversational.

"They've always wanted to do that," Duo said with a disdainful snort.

"You do realize that fewer and fewer respect the Old Laws these days. And now…with the way things are changing, they might abandon them altogether."

"I'm the last one left, anyway. That's not surprising."

"How many of you were there – twelve?"

"Nine. We followed the Laws, too, you know."

"Nine, and Duo Maxwell is all that remains. Have you seen any Fey recently?"

Duo frowned.

"I've avoided contact for the last century."

Zechs nodded, but there was a thoughtful look on his face.

"There aren't too many of us left."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"If this is a 'we could become extinct tomorrow, let's make tonight count' speech then you can save it – I'm not going to sleep with you again."

Zechs smirked.

"You flatter yourself, Dark One."

Duo's eyes narrowed.

"Don't go getting on your high horse just because your kind like the sun more than mine."

"If you really think that's the only difference between us then you are more of an idiot than I've always thought," Zechs spat at him.

Duo sighed. "What do you want, Zechs?"

"Things are changing. The new laws – new Council members. The Old World is getting farther away all of the time. Both the Light and the Dark Court have diminished."

"I'm a half-breed anyway, remember?" Duo reminded Zechs.

"How could I forget?" Zechs sneered. He paused and seemed to collect himself. "I merely wanted to remind you that once, many years ago, we stood together. You should consider just how far you have strayed since then."

Zechs left without another word, his drink completely untouched.

Duo stared after him for a long time. He had never particularly liked nor trusted the Light Court Faerie, but there was something about his words that haunted Duo. Zechs was trying to warn him about something – but what?

He decided to check in with Quatre as the evening wore down, curious about whether or not the blonde was still chained to his desk in the vain belief that Une might come and see him.

Quatre had given him directions to the government office building that the Arbiter had been assigned, and it was only a few blocks from the bar. Duo walked the short distance and arrived at the shabby, concrete building after only a few minutes.

Just as he had predicted, Quatre was indeed behind his desk, buried in paperwork, looking lost and a little desperate.

"Une show up?" Duo asked as he let himself in and stretched out on the leather settee against one wall of the office.

Quatre barely looked up.

"No. And don't gloat. She might have come by – and I needed to be here, anyway."

"Sure, sure. But you've got to understand, time for us moves a bit more slowly than for humans – and Ephemerals. You'll be lucky is she comes by this week – consider it an insult if she doesn't' come by this month."

Quatre frowned.

"But how does anything ever get done?"

Duo shrugged.

"Takes a while, but it also means that everything is more deliberate."

"But – there is legislation being considered that will be voted on in a few weeks! If the Council wants to have any influence on their own fate, they need to start working on our terms."

Duo snorted.

"Yeah, remind me to be somewhere else when you tell Treize that, okay?"

Quatre scowled, but let the matter drop.

"Did anything actually happen today?" Duo asked.

"No."

Duo was about to say something when there was a knock on the door.

"Speak of the devil," Duo muttered to himself. He reached out and could feel the magical being on the other side of the door.

"Looks like you've got a shapeshifter coming to visit," he told Quatre, making no move to get up.

Quatre frowned but rose and opened the door. He ushered in his guest.

It was a tall, thin woman with deep red hair that curled wildly about her face. Her dark, violet eyes met Duo's instantly, and he could sense the power and hostility in them.

He mentally prepared himself for a fight.

"Hello, I'm Quatre Winner, and this is Duo Maxwell. I'm the Arbiter for the United States government and he is –"

"I know what he is," she interrupted Quatre, her voice frosty.

"Um – have we met?" Duo could usually remember enemies he had made, and it was clear that this woman counted herself among his enemies.

"No, I know you by reputation only." She turned to Quatre and extended one hand. He shook it gingerly. "I'm Catherine Bloom, and I'm a representative for the Free Members Society."

Duo groaned as he realized just why she hated him.

Quatre gestured her to take a seat in front of his desk, and then glared at Duo until he sat up with a roll of his eyes.

"I'm sorry – I'm not familiar with that group."

"That's because they're a bunch of delinquents with crazy ideas," Duo muttered.

"That's what was once said about abolitionists in this country, as well. I'm not surprised that you are against us, but I had heard that this Arbiter was an open-minded man."

Duo opened his mouth to defend the last Arbiter, but realized suddenly just how useless it was to do so.

"I'm sorry – clearly there is an issue here that I am unaware of. Could you explain to me what your Society is?" Quatre asked, voice and manner polite and soothing. He gave Duo a warning look.

"I wanted to discuss integrating shape shifters into society."

"Not again." Duo muttered.

"We have every right –"

"Yeah, yeah, shape shifters deserve to be free, blah blah blah. I've heard it before. I've been listening to your kind say this for nearly a thousand years. There's a reason why the Old Council disbanded the last Free Pack."

Her smile turned frosty.

"It's been true for just as long. The prejudice that exists against shape shifters in OUR community is only going to exacerbate the fear and discomfort the humans feel for them. It is time that we all recognized that shape shifters deserve the same humane treatment that any other Old One or Ephemeral does."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Have you ever seen what a shape shifter can do to a human child? How quickly they can rip through all of that soft skin – how much blood is inside such a tiny thing? Good blood, all wasted?"

"Anyone can make the choice to do something like that," Catherine shot back.

"That's just it – YOU don't make the choice. When a shape shifter is under control of the moon, they aren't rational. You can't change that. It's better that they're kept by the powerful Old Ones. Safer for everyone."

"WE aren't pets," Sylvia practically shrieked.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Quatre jumped in, "but, could you please explain the situation better? Catherine," he added when Duo started to speak again.

"Thank you," Catherine said. She glared at Duo again, but then turned to Quatre. "As I stated early, I am here as a representative of the Free Members Society. We are an organization of shape shifters without masters, and we are eager to petition the Arbiter, and the United States government, for the right to form packs, as we once had the right to do in the Old Country."

"Haven't had that right in four hundred years," Duo put in snidely.

"That is true," Catherine acknowledged. "And ever since then, my kind has been treated as the animals our magical forms take. We are abused, drugged, caged, and there exists no legal recourse for us."

Quatre frowned and looked at Duo.

"Is this true?"

"Kind of," Duo allowed.

"Kind of?" Quatre echoed in disbelief.

"Ask her why they aren't allowed to form packs anymore."

"The actions of a few –"

"The last free pack, the Rattus Arcana, were responsible for the worst human massacre ever carried out by magical beings," Duo jumped in when it was clear she wouldn't actually tell the story.

"I've never heard anything about this," Quatre said.

"Yeah, well, it's not a nice, fuzzy tale so it probably didn't make it into the arguments for legalizing magic in the States. Look – you've heard of the town of Hamelin, right?"

"With the Pied Piper?" Quatre asked. "That's just some children's story – and doesn't mention anything about shape shifters."

"No, your version doesn't. The real story does. See, this town of Hamelin was infested with rats. Not ordinary rats, mind you, but shape shifter rats. The nulls that lived there didn't know that, they just knew that these large, furry beasts that looked like really huge rats were killing off all manner of small animals and ruining a lot of their crops. So, they hired the Pied Piper, who happened to be an Ephemeral whose powers lay along the lines of influencing others, especially Shape shifters. So, he tried to lure them out of the city with his magical pipe playing skills. His plan was to put them in cages and sell them as food. A few of the younger, weaker rats fell for his magic, but the older ones didn't. In retaliation, they killed all of the children in Hamelin. All three hundred of them."

Quatre looked shell shocked by this story, and Catherine's face was drawn into a grim expression.

"What happened?"

"All of the others willingly disbanded – or, if not disbanded, swore allegiance to a powerful Old One. That's actually been the way we've done things for hundreds of years. No one has ever really trusted shape shifters, and if you've got an Old One to take responsibility for the pack, it makes things easier. But the Rattus Arcana didn't want to swear their allegiance to anyone – sported this same drivel about having the right to be their own masters that SHE'S saying, right now. So, they went on a bit of a rampage through Germany, killing children, until they were stopped and exterminated."

"Did you -?" Quatre started to ask.

"Yes, I did." Duo's feelings about shape shifters had already been well-formed by that point, but tracking the sixty-member pack of rats through villages for six months, always arriving to see the villagers burying the mangled remains of their children, had solidified his opinion of them.

"It's true that some of my kind have evil tendencies. Just like any race. We could sit here and list all of the terrible things that vampires have done, or any number of crimes committed by Old Ones. It isn't just shape shifters that do this."

"You're right about that," Duo agreed. "But once a month you can't control yourselves – no one race has that issue."

"Alphas can," Catherine pointed out.

Duo sneered. "And how many of those do you see these days?"

"Alphas?" Quatre interjected.

Duo made a mental note to start writing a dictionary for him.

"Shape shifters come in all different kinds – pretty much every animal has a magical, shape shifter version. Just like Old Ones and Ephemerals aren't all equal, some of these shape shifters are more powerful. The most powerful ones are Alphas – and yeah, they can control their shifting better, and can actually keep themselves from shifting during the moon. IF they have a pack, they can also keep them from shifting."

"So, why aren't there more Alphas?"

"Because Alphas don't like being treated like slaves. They usually get themselves killed not long after they get sworn to service by an Old One." Duo shrugged. "Maybe if there were more Alphas –"

"There are . Especially in the States. They've been able to hide themselves better, and there are so many of us who want to be productive members of society. We don't want to be pets. We're better than just being servants to vampires or witches."

Quatre was frowning.

"There isn't any legislation prohibiting the formation of a pack in the United States that I've seen."

"Not that you've seen," Duo agreed, "but the Council would have to approve it –and I guarantee you that they won't."

Catherine sighed.

"You could at least pretend to care."

"I could – but that would be lying. I don't trust shape shifters, sorry if that offends you. And before you got getting too offended – I don't trust vampires, or witches, or Faeries, or any other kind of monster much either. You said you knew me by reputation, and if you do, then you know that."

"Yes, I had heard that your hatred of shape shifters was rivaled only by your self-hatred."

Duo inclined his head in agreement.

"I can't make any promises, Ms. Bloom, but I do want to help. I'll do everything that I can to try."

"Thank you, Mr. Winner. Here is my card. And please, if you ever need help – know that we are prepared to assist the Arbiter however we may. And even the Executioner can attest to the power of having an army of shape shifters on your side."

She spared Duo one more glare and then she left.

"Well, that was tons of fun," Duo muttered.

"Do you really believe that they deserve to be enslaved?" Quatre asked.

"No, of course not. I just – I've seen what a pack of shape shifters can do, and I don't want to have to clean up behind them again."

"But a good Alpha –"

"An Alpha is just a leader. He can be good, or he can be bad." Duo shrugged. "I've had, literally, centuries, to be prejudiced about this. But hey, I could be wrong."

Quatre still looked troubled.

"This is just one of those things, Quatre. You can leave it the way it is – which is the way it's been for four hundred years – or you can try and fix it."

"You think I should leave it."

"Doesn't matter what I think. You want my advice – yes, steer clear of this. But if this is something you want to pursue, then… I'll do what I can to help."

"Thank you. I'll… think on it."

Duo nodded and rose.

"You should go and get some sleep," he told Quatre. "It's almost two in the morning."

"What if –"

"If someone comes by, they'll leave a message. You need to start adjusting your schedule, though. You should have a day shift working here for anyone who sends a servant – or doesn't have issue with sunlight, but you should try to be here during evening hours. That is when the important people will come by. But – keep in mind that you're the Arbiter. It's kind of like being a prince, people should wait on you, not the other way around."

Quatre frowned, but nodded in agreement.

"Okay – so, I'll see you here tomorrow after sunset?"

Duo grinned.

"Count on it."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Duo met Quatre at his office the next evening it was just after sunset. He walked in and saw yet another face from the past he would rather have never seen again.

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

"Duo. It's so good to see you again."

Sylvia Noventa rose and held his gaze, her blue eyes full of power. Duo sighed and bowed to her. She smiled in pleasure.

Like Zechs, she too had changed little except to update her wardrobe. She was wearing a flowing silk dress that made her eyes look even more blue and moved around her body as though it had a life of its own. Her blonde hair was pulled back into an elaborate bun, leaving her long neck bare. Her pale skin gleamed in the low light, giving her an ethereal beauty.

"I was just getting acquainted with the new Arbiter," Sylvia said with an expansive gesture towards Quatre.

Duo looked at him and noticed that the blonde looked half in thrall of her. He rolled his eyes. Sometimes humans were so easy to manipulate.

"You weren't at the Council meeting," Duo said. He walked over and perched on the edge of Duo's desk, unable to help the instinct to put himself between the blonde man and the vampire.

"No, I wasn't. I had…business to attend to."

Duo frowned. That was two of the oldest and most powerful Council members that clearly hadn't been informed that the Arbiter was visiting. Duo wracked his memory, but most of the Council members had been unfamiliar faces. He had really only recognized Noin and Treize himself. What was going on?

"Ms. Noventa has been discussing a few issues that the Council would like to see addressed," Quatre said.

"Oh, please call me Sylvia," she said with a smile that showed off her sharp, pearly white teeth.

"Sorry – Sylvia."

Duo turned and saw that Quatre was actually blushing, as though this was some kind of date.

"Sylvia, give the kid a break, please," he asked.

She pouted, but drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were still very blue, but some of the power in them had been absorbed and she looked almost human.

"Is that better?" She asked.

"Yes, thank you," Quatre said, still blushing.

"I can sense that you are a powerful empathy – you should be able to construct mental defenses against most vampire powers," Sylvia said in a conversational tone. "At least, Anthony could. And you certainly seem as powerful as he was. Don't you think so, Duo?" She turned to him with a sweet smile.

Duo returned the smile.

"You know, it's funny how you keep bringing him up. It's like the entire Council forgot that I was willing to risk banishment just to avenge his death. Do you really think that I've forgotten how much I hate all of you after just a hundred years away?"

Sylvia turned away in dismissal.

"I do not represent the Council as a whole, but I do represent a sizable faction of the Council who would like to see reform made to our society."

Duo frowned. He never would have thought that Sylvia Noventa would lead a rebellion against Treize, but it certainly sounded as though she was hinting at just that.

"What kinds of reform?" Quatre asked.

"Our justice system is the most antiquated, and I feel that if we can improve that, we will be able to improve the quality of life for many Old Ones and Ephemerals."

"What exactly –"

"It is something better witnessed than explained. Wouldn't you agree, Duo?"

Duo frowned. He wasn't sure that he did agree. If he had his way, he would rather Quatre never be forced to see what passed for Council justice.

"In two nights time Treize will be presiding over the Court. As Arbiter, it is your right to attend. I encourage you to do so. In fact, I would be honored to have my servant escort you."

Duo frowned. Sylvia had definitely just issued a demand that Quatre attend, and it was obvious that the blonde intended to go along with her.

"Of course. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

"Thank you for being so open. I look forward to a… long future of working with you." She smiled at Duo. "Do take better care of this one, he seems like a great improvement on the previous model."

Duo barely restrained himself from lashing out at her, but managed to contain himself to just a glare.

After she left, Quatre let out an explosive sigh.

"Why does everyone hate you?" He demanded.

"They're just jealous, I expect," Duo tried to joke. He got up and sat down in the cold seat that Sylvia had just vacated.

Quatre was frowning at him.

"I'm serious."

Duo shrugged.

"I already told you – I used to be the Executioner. There's a lot of resentment towards me because I used to have the authority to kill anyone I wanted to. And… well, the shape shifter community has had a thing against me ever since the Hamelin incident. Sylvia, I guess, has a pretty legitimate reason to hate me."

Quatre waited for him to explain, an expectant look on his face.

"Noventa – Crassus Noventa – was both her father and her maker. When I killed him, I killed the only family she had ever had… so I can understand her holding a bit of a grudge over it."

Quatre checked his watch.

"Have you eaten yet?" He asked Duo.

"Ah – no." Duo was confused at the abrupt change in conversation.

"Good, join me for dinner?"

Duo frowned but rose and followed Quatre out of the office.

"I guess you're taking this whole not waiting around thing seriously, then?" He asked, proud that Quatre was adapting so quickly.

"Not really – I've already had plans for tonight and I couldn't cancel."

Duo frowned.

"Wait, are you asking me to tag along on a date with you?"

Quatre grinned ruefully.

"Not exactly. Look – it's kind of complicated, but I had planned to meet a friend for dinner, and I'd like you to come along as well. I think you would like him – and it's not as if you're overwhelmed with friends, is it?"

Duo had to concede that point. His 'friends' had a bad habit of dying, or getting killed just by being associated with him.

"Okay, fine."

Quatre grinned broadly and Duo found himself returning the expression.

"Excellent. I really think you'll like him – and the restaurant. It's one of my favorites."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It turned out that Quatre was right on both counts. The restaurant, Firefly, was just off the Strip. It was a Tapas restaurant, and even though it was just after eight, the place was already packed with fashionable young people enjoying a meal or a drink at the bar.

Quatre gave his name to the hostess and they were immediately led to low table surrounded by what looked like ottomans. Seated on one of them was an incredibly handsome man. He stood when he noticed them approaching and smiled slightly at Quatre.

"Hey!" Quatre greeted the man with a hug.

"I was beginning to think you stood me up," the man said, his gaze switching from Quatre's face to Duo's, a question in his gaze.

"I'm sorry, I got caught up at work. Ah, this is Duo Maxwell. Duo, I'd like you to meet Trowa Barton."

Trowa held out his hand. Duo tried to sense whether or not the man was just a null, or something more. He detected a very faint trace of magic, but it was so weak that he doubted Trowa even knew it was there.

Duo shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you," he said.

"Likewise." Trowa's green eyes were very warm as they held Duo's gaze.

"So, shall we sit and order drinks?" Quatre asked into the silence between them.

Duo forced himself to look away from Trowa and he nodded in agreement.

They sat down and Duo tried to listen to Quatre explain the menu, but his attention was constantly drawn back to Trowa. The man was insanely good looking, but there was something beyond his looks that kept drawing his attention. It seemed that the attraction was mutual, because Trowa stared right back at him, an amused, half smile curving his lips.

The ringing of a cell phone interrupted them and surprised Duo into looking away.

It was Quatre's phone, and the blonde man excused himself to take the call.

"So… you're a friend of Quatre's."

"Yes. A new friend, actually." Trowa smirked slightly. "We got set up on a blind date last week."

Duo frowned. "I didn't realize Quatre was gay."

"He's not," Trowa assured him. "He didn't realize that he was being set up with a guy – and I didn't realize that I was being set up with a straight guy."

Duo winced.

"But he's a great guy – and we did hit it off. So… "

"Now you've got a new straight friend," Duo filled in.

"Exactly. How do you know him?"

"I work with him, actually."

"Oh." There was a certain blankness in Trowa's expression that told Duo that Quatre had not filled Trowa in on the details of his professional life. Duo wasn't in a hurry to change that.

"I'm really sorry," Quatre was back, slightly flushed. "But I have to go. Something's come up."

Duo frowned and started to stand.

"Who –"

"No, no, it's ah, a family thing. Look, why don't you two stay and have dinner? And… I'll call you later?" Quatre looked at both of them, his eyes big and filled with hope and apology.

"You're sure everything's okay?" Duo asked.

"Yes, I'm sure." Quatre nodded emphatically.

Duo exchanged an amused glance with Trowa.

"Call me if you need me for anything tonight?" Duo suggested.

"Of course. Er – have a good night." And with that the blonde made a speedy get away.

"He has got to be the world's worst liar," Trowa said.

Duo chuckled.

"That was the most obvious set up I have ever been part of."

"So…" Trowa looked slightly embarrassed. "You are gay, right? Because I don't know if I could sit through two dates in a row with incredibly good looking straight men and not develop a complex."

"No need for that," Duo assured him with a grin. "So, what's good here?"

The next two hours passed surprisingly quickly, and Duo realized that this was the most relaxed he had felt in years. Trowa proved to be intelligent and clever, and Duo enjoyed the other man's stories about life in Las Vegas.

After dinner they walked the two blocks back to the Strip and to Duo's apartment.

"Well," Duo said when they reached the door to his apartment. He scratched the back of his neck. This part was always awkward for him. Humans were so fickle, sometimes: they either wanted to rush headlong into a new relationship or they held themselves back. Saying goodnight after a first date was always his least favorite part. His tension about whether to kiss Trowa or invite him in was compounded by his guilt for even wanting to do either.

There was a slight smirk curving Trowa's lips. He was very handsome, and very, very human. Duo sighed.

"Look, I think you're great – I haven't laughed so much in a long time – and you're intelligent, and hot as hell."

"But?" Trowa prompted, the smirk still on his face. Duo mentally added confidence to his list of good features.

"But I'm… I'm not human. And I'm dangerous."

Trowa was silent for a long moment.

"Well, as long as we're sharing, I work at Chippendale's. I'm a performer."

"You're a stripper?"

"Performer," Trowa corrected, a little frostily. "There's a difference."

Duo couldn't help the leer that formed on his face.

"But still, you do take off your clothes. To music."

Trowa rolled his eyes.

"Weren't you just trying to break up with me after our first date?" He reminded Duo.

His tone helped Duo focus back on his original intentions.

"Yeah, look, you seem really, really great. And I can't involve you in my life, the people… the things I deal with."

"So you're trying to protect me?" Trowa seemed amused.

"I'm not talking about some drunk chicks who try to feel you up – I'm talking about vampires and werewolves and witches and –"

"Oh my," Trowa whispered, that damn smirk still on his face. He closed the distance between them, backing Duo up against the door to his apartment. "You do realize that I'm not a child, and that I can probably decide for myself if this isn't something I want to get involved in."

Duo rolled his eyes. "I've heard that before – look, you don't understand. You can't understand. Just trust me –"

"You talk too much," Trowa suddenly interrupted him. He leaned in and brushed his lips against Duo's, soft yet firm.

The touch of Trowa's warm, smooth lips against his own was electric, and when Trowa's tongue darted out to taste him, Duo felt a coil of frission deep inside that started to spread throughout his body.

Trowa pulled back, and the smirk was broader now.

"How about a deal? As soon as I'm ready to walk away, I will."

Before Duo could respond, Trowa turned and walked away, leaving Duo to stare after him. Once he had turned the corner and was out of sight, Duo slumped back against his door.

"Fuck me," he muttered. He had not anticipated the slightly reticent, sharp witted man to have that much confidence.

He shook himself, turned, and opened the door to his apartment.

Instantly, he knew that something was wrong. It was very dark, with only the dim glow of neon streaming through the blinds and curtains offering faint illumination in the room.

Duo could feel no magical residue of any kind, except for the light wards he had put up a few days ago. He reached out, but those were undisturbed.

Still, something was off.

He slowly and quietly closed the door behind him, locking it.

There was a sudden movement hurtling through the dark, and Duo was shoved back against the door by a solid weight. He grappled with it, feeling a very human and very strong frame beneath his hands. He managed to land a solid punch to the face of his attacker before his arms were wrenched down to his sides.

He managed to throw both of them to the floor, crashing into what felt like a table as they did, and the human rolled away, leaving Duo crouched down behind his couch, trying to anticipate the next move.

He didn't have to wait long. There was a skitter of noise from the kitchen. Duo was up on his feet a second before he realized it was probably a distraction.

He was attacked from behind this time, and a steely forearm wrapped around his throat, pressing against his windpipe and holding him securely in place.

The firm body pressed against his back was familiar, and Duo drew in a deep breath. There was a hint of pine. He smirked as he recognized his attacker.

Duo looped one of his legs through the human's and jerked, upsetting his balance and freeing himself as the human struggled to hang on. Duo spun around and shoved the human against the nearest wall, wincing when he heard the crunch of glass breaking.

He felt a very brief moment of victory before the human punched him in the gut, doubling him over in pain. The human then kicked him, and Duo fell to the ground. He rolled over, clutching his stomach, and could see the shadowy human poised above him, a booted foot prepared to strike out again.

Duo grabbed the foot and twisted, sending the human sprawling to the floor with a hiss of pain. It took Duo a few breaths to regain his feet, and the human was up to meet him when he stood, a silver knife in his hand, flashing dangerously in the dim light.

Frowning, Duo started to take this seriously. He dropped into a defensive posture and managed to avoid the first three swipes of the blade cleanly. On the fourth, he tried to grab the human's arm, and succeeded in pulling the man against him, the knife still in his hand. Duo slammed the arm against the wall, but the grip on the knife stayed firm.

Duo tried to twist the human around in front of him, but the man took that as an opportunity to deliver a swift kick to Duo's right shin, and he buckled slightly. He kept his grip on the arm, however, and it was a struggle as the man tried to free himself and Duo refused to let go.

There was a whisper of sound, and the familiar click of a gun being cocked. Duo felt a cold barrel pressed against his skull.

"Like a gun is going to do much damage," he sneered.

"Silver bullets. There isn't MUCH in your head, but what there is surely won't survive." The voice was cold and harsh.

With a sigh, Duo released the arm and stepped away.

"You always have to win," he muttered.

"I do always win," came the correction.

Duo turned on a lamp and surveyed the damage to his living room. They had crashed into a side table, and it was a mess of splintered wood on the floor, and the "house warming gift" 13th century map that Quatre had given him was hanging at an angle, the glass of the frame jagged and broken. Duo winced.

He turned to survey his attacker and winced again as he saw the bruise forming high on his cheek and the streaks of bloody scratches on his forehead.

The man was Duo's height, and his frame was lean and powerful, the muscles in his arms well defined and bare below the sleeves of his fitted t-shirt. The man's features were exotic, his large blue eyes framed by thick lashes, high cheekbones, and his skin was a dark golden tan. His mouth was a firm line that looked unaccustomed to smiling. The man brushed his messy chocolate hair out of his eyes.

"I could have killed you that time."

Duo rolled his eyes. "I missed you too, Heero."

There was a slight hesitation – the same hesitation that there always was between them – and then they crashed together. Duo wrapped his arms around the man and pulled their bodies flush, reveling in the heat and the firm body. Heero buried both his hands in Duo's hair and pulled their faces together, meeting Duo's mouth with his own in a furious, open mouth kiss.

Their hands were everywhere as they pulled at each other's clothes and luxuriated in the feel of each other's skin. Duo tried to walk them backwards into his bedroom, but they only made it as far as the doorway before Heero turned and pushed them to the ground.

Heero straddled Duo's hips, grinding against him through the fabric of their pants, and Duo groaned.

"God, I've missed you."

Heero's face was completely serious as he looked down at Duo, his eyes seeming to catalog and memorize him. His eyes latched on to the scar near Duo's jaw, and Duo dragged him down for another kiss, unwilling to discuss it at the moment.

They scrambled out of the rest of their clothes and lay naked on the cold, wooden floor, the feel of it under Duo's back a wonderful contrast to the heat of Heero's body.

"I want you in me," Heero grunted as Duo's right hand latched on to his erection and started to pump him.

"You sure?" Duo asked, not able to keep the surprise out of his voice. Duo could count one hand the number of times that Heero had bottomed for him. It was almost always the other way around.

Heero's eyes were closed, and an expression between pain and pleasure was on his face.

"Yes," he hissed.

Duo flipped them and knelt down between Heero's legs. Heero's eyes were still closed, and Duo took the opportunity to do his own cataloguing, noting all of the new scars and the number of faded bruises on the perfectly sculpted body beneath him. He continued to work Heero's erection, but his attention was caught by the wicked looking scar that tracked across Heero's heart and down his side. It was three jagged lines, and it looked as though it had been deep. SHAPESHIFTER, Duo decided.

Heero groaned and his hips rose off the floor to meet Duo's hand. He turned his focus back to the task at hand and leaned down to lick Heero's impressive erection. He tasted the salty precum on the tip of his penis and then took the entire length into his mouth, feeling the head nudge at the back of his throat. He worked it in and out several times, feeling Heero's muscles start to clench under his hands and hearing his breathing become more ragged and uneven.

"I'm close – stop." It was a command, and Duo reluctantly released Heero. He rose and went in search of lube, but could find none. He hadn't really planned on having sex with anyone so soon. But then, he never planned things where Heero was concerned.

"I don't –"

Heero was already up on his feet, brushing past Duo and pulling a bag from under Duo's living room couch. Duo rolled his eyes at Heero's paranoia, but was grateful for his Boy Scout mentality of always being prepared when Heero flipped a soft tube of lubricant at him.

Duo caught it, but momentarily forgot about it as he watched Heero continue to stroke himself, keeping his erection firm, and keeping himself on the cusp of orgasm.

"You are so beautiful," Duo muttered as he opened the lube and spread some over his own erection, stroking himself a few times, matching his rhythm to Heero's. The other man's eyes were focused on Duo's hands, and his skin was flushed red.

Duo smirked, released himself, and put more lube on his fingers. He pounced onto Heero, sending him falling to the floor behind the couch. Duo teased his tight ring of anal muscles while kissing him.

Their tongues battled for control and then Heero moaned into his mouth as Duo pumped in first one and then two fingers. Heero's hips jerked up to meet him again, and Duo pulled his fingers out and positioned himself at the entrance. With one swift motion he was inside of the hot, tight sheath of muscles.

Heero groaned and Duo kissed him again, driving in and out of the strong body beneath his without restraint.

Duo snaked a hand between their bodies and latched onto Heero's erection, pumping him in rhythm to his own movements.

Soon, they were both panting heavily, and the rush of blood in Duo's head drowned out of his other senses. Heero's hips jerked convulsively, and Duo felt the hot flood of semen on his hand just as he was pulled deeper into Heero's body by his climaxing muscles. The intense pressure brought on his own orgasm.

He collapsed onto Heero, completely spent.

"Thank you."

Duo rolled his eyes and rolled off of the man.

"Don't say it like that."

"Like what?" Heero demanded, his voice neutral.

"Like it was a favor or something."

"It was… appreciated. I needed it."

Duo groaned.

"Seventy years and you still can't accept the fact that this isn't some sort of… trade negotiation. I fuck you because I like to – not because I want something from you."

He looked over to see Heero frowning slightly. He sighed and got to his feet.

"I'm getting a towel," he said when Heero's narrowed gaze focused on him.

"Hn."

Duo came back and mopped up the sticky mess on Heero's chest and his own, then handed the towel to Heero so that he could finish cleaning himself.

Duo leaned back against the couch, enjoying the view. Heero rose, but instead of handing back the towel, he took it into another room and Duo could hear him open and close the washing machine. He rolled his eyes. Of course Heero had inspected every nook and cranny of the apartment. The floorplan was no doubt stamped into his brain forever now.

"Come on," he tugged Heero into the bedroom, and this time they made it to the bed. Duo picked up the abandoned lube on the way, and set it on his bedside table.

"This is new," Heero said, tracing a finger over the scar on Duo's jaw.

"Nothing serious – a slight misunderstanding."

"When?"

"Two – no, three years ago now."

Heero was scowling.

"Dead?"

"Yes."

Heero nodded.

"You've got a few new decorations, too," Duo said, indicating the scars over Heero's heart.

Unconsciously, the stoic man traced the scars on his own chest.

"Six months ago. Brazil. Shape shifter pack. They've been eliminated."

"Close call?"

Heero shrugged, but that told Duo all he needed to know. He sighed.

"Shouldn't the scar be gone by now?" He asked.

Heero smirked.

"Silver tipped claws."

Duo winced. "But – wouldn't that hurt them too?"

"They weren't rational."

Which wasn't saying much, coming from Heero Yuy.

"It will heal, just takes longer," Duo said, answering the question that Heero didn't ask.

Heero nodded. He leaned back against the headboard and stretched out. Duo laid down beside him.

"Why are you in Las Vegas?" He asked Duo.

"Council shit." Duo sighed. "The new Arbiter – well, it's a long story. But basically, Council shit." He rolled onto his side and ran a hand over Heero's well defined abdominal muscles.

Heero's blue eyes were dark as they held Duo's own. Duo smirked and leaned down, using his tongue to trace the scars over Heero's heart.

"So what brings you to Vegas?" Duo asked. "Work or pleasure?" He nipped Heero's left nipple gently.

"Work."

Duo nodded and started a trail of open mouthed kisses up Heero's throat, enjoying the taste of his sweaty skin and the feel of his thready pulse beneath his tongue and teeth.

Heero was a very good, very highly paid assassin. He specialized in killing magical creatures and magic users. What made him so unique was the fact that he was human, and had absolutely no magical ability. For years, Heero had been under government contract, but in recent years he had gone into the private field. He only took on those jobs that promised to be the most difficult, and most dangerous.

Duo thought he was probably Heero's only friend, and certainly the only person Heero trusted enough to take with him as backup on his missions. Heero called him in to help whenever he thought his target would be too much of a challenge for him alone. Duo didn't get those calls often anymore, and it had been four years since he had last seen Heero.

"Who's the mark?" He asked the question against the shell of Heero's ear.

"You."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter 3

Duo liked to call Heero Captain America.

When they first met, back during World War II, the comic book hero had just been invented, and Duo thought that Heero was a shockingly accurate depiction of the patriotic soldier – If you took away the costume and the shield and instead made him immortal and half-Japanese.

In the decades after Anthony's death, Duo had traveled across the United States, living in one place for a few years before moving on to the next. He had been filled with rage and despair at the loss of his servant, and had vowed to leave the magical community behind forever.

In 1939 he found himself living in New York City and he met a young, brilliant Jewish ephemeral named Gavi Weissman. Gavi had just emigrated from Germany. His parents and sister had been apprehended trying to flee the country, and he was convinced they had been sent to a concentration camp.

Gavi was a scientist, a biologist and chemist by training, and had quickly joined the American army as a research scientist.

Duo had found him entirely by accident, attracted to the strange flavor of his magical signature one day when he passed him on the street. Gavi looked nothing like Anthony – he had dark, curly hair and intense gray eyes that seemed to be constantly dissecting his surroundings. Duo was mainly attracted to his thirst for vengeance against the Nazis, which mirrored his own desire for revenge on the Council.

Their relationship was purely physical. They were both too emotionally scarred to use the other for more than sex, but after nearly a year together, Duo had developed a strong affection for the distant Jewish man. It was clearly one sided.

One evening he went to Gavi's apartment and, instead of the usual greeting of being tackled and stripped when he walked in the door, Gavi stabbed him with a syringe full of colloidal silver. The microscopic silver particles had put Duo into a near comatose state and Gavi had used the opportunity to take almost a pint of Duo's blood before abandoning him on the floor of his apartment.

It had taken Duo hours to force the silver particles into one solid lump that he was able to dig out of his arm. By that time, Gavi was long gone. It took Duo three days to find the man, and when he did it was to track him to a military facility.

Thoroughly pissed, Duo had used his abilities to scare off most of the human personnel working at the facility, including the guards. When he had ventured inside he found three Ephemerals waiting for him – Gavi and two other men. They were gathered around a hospital bed, all holding glasses of champagne and toasting each other.

On the bed, naked except for a sheet covering his lower body, was Heero Yuy.

Completely oblivious to Duo's desire to kill him, Gavi had enthusiastically greeted Duo and explained that Heero was a soldier who had volunteered for their enhancement experiments. Gavi had used Duo's blood to modify Heero's own body chemistry, giving him the ability to heal at the same pace as an Old One, and yet he was completely impervious to any magical attacks. Gavi claimed that he was immortal, and that he was the key to destroying Hitler. In addition, they had spent months psychologically conditioning Heero so that he would care only about fulfilling his missions and would feel no guilt or hesitation to do whatever he needed to do to succeed. Heero was to be the first of many super soldiers they planned to create. Soldiers who could defeat any human enemy, and who could even battle an Old One.

As much as Duo might have respected Gavi's desire for revenge, the fact remained that he had trusted the man, and Gavi had poisoned him and taken his blood for a science project that would change the face of humanity.

Duo had killed the three scientists and waited for Heero to wake up. When he did, Duo explained the situation, and offered to help him escape.

This had led to the first of many fights between them. Heero had instantly identified Duo as an obstacle to fulfilling his duty as a super soldier, and Duo had barely escaped their first encounter with his life.

It was five years before he saw Heero again, and the war had ended. Duo was living in Seattle at the time, and when he came home to the small house he had purchased he had found Heero inside, waiting for him.

They hadn't fought that time. Instead, Heero had simply stated that his life had no more purpose and he wanted Duo to kill him. Somehow, through hours of circular discussions, Duo managed to convince Heero that he didn't want to die, and they had wound up in bed together. The next day, Heero was gone.

This pattern had repeated itself for decades. Heero would vanish just as quickly as he came, but every time they met the tenuous connection between them was strengthened.

After seventy years, Duo felt pretty confident that Heero had no real desire to kill him. However, the announcement that he had been hired to do so shocked him.

"So… how much did they pay you?" Duo asked, stalling for time.

In a serious fight between them, he had to admit that it was even odds whether or not he could defeat Heero. The real issue lay in the fact that Duo didn't know whether or not he was emotionally capable of killing the other man.

"The contract is worth five million dollars." Heero's voice was flat, and his blue eyes had that same distant, reserved look that he always wore when discussing business.

"Not too bad." Duo drew his knees to his chest, preparing to launch himself in the other direction if Heero lashed out.

Heero noticed the move and smirked.

"If I was going to kill you I would have done it already," he said, his voice mild and slightly amused.

Feeling like an idiot, Duo forced himself to relax.

"Well, you could have led with that, you know. Something like, 'I said no, but someone wanted me to kill you.'"

"I will next time," Heero promised him.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Who took out the contract?"

Heero frowned.

"I don't know. I was hoping you might know who would want you dead."

"Yeah, I could name a couple dozen people who might want me out of the picture." He frowned as he considered all of the likely candidates. "When was the contract put out?"

"Two days ago. I waited until this afternoon to turn it down, which means that you should expect visitors in the future."

Duo shrugged. "If they aren't you, I'm sure I can handle them."

"They aren't me, but any idiot can be lucky once. You need to be more careful."

Duo smirked at the reprimand.

"I didn't realize you cared."

"Of course I care. You're the only one who understands me. My life would be…meaningless without you as a frame of reference." The statement was made in a flat, matter of fact tone.

It was as close to an expression of affection as Heero had ever come, and Duo was taken aback. His own feelings for Heero were complicated by the guilt he felt over the fact that it was his blood that had made Heero into this super soldier in the first place.

"So, what's the plan?" Duo asked, changing the subject.

"Do you know who might want you dead?"

"Like I said, a lot of people, but I would put Treize Khushrenada at the top of that list."

Heero nodded.

"I'll see what I can find out about the contract. It might take me a few days to track down the broker and follow the money."

"Okay. I'm sure I can keep myself alive for that long."

"The contract specified that you needed to be encased in silver, not just decapitated."

Which meant that it was someone who really, really wanted Duo dead.

"I thought you were done with the Council," Heero said after a few moments of tense silence.

Duo had once explained to Heero just why he avoided the magical community. Heero hadn't been overly sympathetic, but he had approved of Duo's methods of revenge.

"The new Arbiter –"

"Quatre Winner."

Duo nodded, a little surprised that Heero knew who it was, but then, Heero had been more involved in the magical community recently that Duo had.

"Yeah, he asked me to be his Consigliore – his advisor."

"Why did you agree?"

"He needed my help. And… I was bored."

Heero shook his head in disapproval.

"Who is Treize Khushrenada?"

"Well, back in the day he was just a second rate vampire. He's pretty old – probably about fifteen hundred years or so, and he's powerful. But his politics made him a little unfashionable. Back in Europe he wasn't a Council member, and when they formed the North American Council three hundred years ago he was one of the first vampires to come over. When I left he was maybe the third or fourth most powerful Council member, but somehow he's become the Head of the Council."

"He wants you dead?"

"No more or less than anyone else who's known me for a few hundred years. There's some bad blood between us, that's for sure."

"Who else might want you dead?"

"Just about anyone on the Council – Lucrezia Noin, Zechs Merquise, Sylvia Noventa – maybe ten or so others."

"You do know how to make friends."

Duo grinned.

"Some people just don't get my charm."

"Can we sleep now?" Heero asked, his voice betraying just a thread of crankiness.

Duo smirked. He leaned forward and kissed him again, waiting until Heero kissed him back before he pulled away.

"I'm glad you turned down the contract," Duo said as he turned off the bedside light. "I'd hate to have to kill you.'

In the darkness beside him, Heero snorted and then rolled over on his side, stretching out with his back against Duo's.

"Keep dreaming," Heero told him.

Duo smirked, and despite the fact that he had one of the most dangerous men alive curled against his back, he was asleep in minutes.

 

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It was just after dawn the next morning when Duo snapped awake.

He looked around, but Heero's side of the bed was empty, and Duo had no doubt that the assassin was long gone. It took him a moment to realize what had woken him, but then he saw his cell phone merrily vibrating itself towards the edge of the nightstand.

Duo caught it just as it started to fall off the edge and answered the call.

"This is Duo."

"About time you answered the phone."

Duo instantly recognized the voice as belonging to Wufei.

"It's seven a.m. – why the hell are you calling me this early?"

"Because you are part of the task force that investigates magical crimes and we have a crime to investigate. If you aren't up to it, I will be happy to inform Quatre and –"

"Don't get your panties in a twist. Where do I need to go?"

"Our headquarters are in the industrial zone – off Decatur and Tropicana. Be there as soon as you can." Wufei hung up the phone before Duo could ask for further clarification.

With a scowl, Duo threw the phone down on the bed and went to shower. He was quick about it, skipping his hair entirely, and was dressed and out of his condo ten minutes later.

The taxi dropped him off at the intersection of Tropicana and Decatur, and Duo looked around for – what he didn't know. There was no obvious signage that indicating that any of the buildings functioned as an FBI headquarters. He must have stood there for five minutes before someone came out of the abandoned gas station to his right and waved at him.

He recognized Hilde and walked over to her.

"Morning," she greeted him with a smile.

Duo was relieved to see that she looked recovered from her ordeal the night they had first met.

"Your boss mentioned something about a crime. It had better be really, really bloody and really scary or he and I are going to have some serious words."

Hilde arched an eyebrow and ushered him into the gas station.

"This is going to be so much fun," she muttered, and Duo didn't know if she had intended for him to hear her.

Duo followed Hilde through the abandoned aisles of the store and into the back, which turned out to be a completely retrofitted, very high tech headquarters. It was large enough to hold several cubicles and had a main conference area with large monitors and two walls covered in photos.

Wufei was near one of the cubicles, speaking with someone, but Duo walked past him and into the conference room. He walked up to the photos and started to look at them.

One wall was covered with photos of the apartment that Duo had seen earlier in the week, and he gave those a cursory glance before moving on to the other wall.

The similarities between the two were incredible. The décor of the apartments was radically different, but both walls featured photos of a naked woman, her internal organs had been removed, and two concentric circles, drawn in her own blood, created a perimeter around her body.

"Were you there?" Duo asked Hilde as she stepped up beside him.

She nodded.

"Was it the same – the runes, the circle, the magic?"

Wufei stopped talking to whoever he had been and walked over to them, a scowl on his face. Duo mentally rolled his eyes. He was sure that the Chinese null was about to dress him down for breathing improperly.

"No, the circle was complete this time. And the magic… it… it was dark, you know – if felt cold and full of pain and fear, like last time. But… it also felt good, somehow. I can't explain it. It's like the intent was bad, but the end was somehow good."

Duo frowned at her explanation. He decided that, with more training, she would be able to understand these rituals better. Maybe she needed more than just Quatre… but Duo didn't know too many witches that he trusted.

"We have a serial killer on our hands," Wufei announced.

"It's only two killings – " Duo started to argue.

"The vic profile is the same, Hilde assures me the magic has the same… taste or flavor or whatever, and the ritual was the same – only complete. That creates a pattern."

"Right, but we still don't know why this – super? I really hate that name – is even doing this. The first crime scene almost killed Hilde and took her magic, but this one only had the single vic – who, if you say is the same, wasn't an Ephemeral. So, what the hell was the point of a ritual circle that guided the soul of a null to –" Duo stopped talking as he experienced a moment of incredible déjà vu.

"What? Do you have an idea?" Hilde asked.

"I – no, no." Duo shook his head, willing the memories to fade.

"If you are withholding information that could help us solve this case, I can have you arrested and –"

"For fuck's sake, I'm not withholding information. And you just try to put me in silver cuffs and see what happens to you." Duo glared at the Chinese man, who returned his glare without intimidation.

Duo had never met a null who accepted the reality of magic, knew he had none, and still thought he could take on an Old One as powerful as Duo. It was mind-boggling.

"Okay, or we could calm down and act like rational adults…" Hilde suggested, stepping between them.

Duo felt the feather light touch of her magic like a caress as she tried to magically project her request.

He could see Wufei visibly relax, and he was impressed with Hilde's magic all over again. He drew in a deep breath and let go of his anger.

"A long, long time ago I knew someone who did this kind of thing. He hunted women, prostitutes mostly, and he killed them. He used his magic to purify their souls, and the circles he made were protection circles. He believed he was sending their souls to heaven."

"That's insane," Hilde murmured, a look of horror on her face.

"What happened to him?" Wufei demanded.

"He died. A very, very painful death."

"Good," Wufei said dismissively.

Duo's jaw clenched.

"He was trying to save them, he wasn't evil."

"He was murdering weak women –"

"How do you know they were weak?" Hilde interrupted Wufei.

The Chinese man rolled his eyes.

"Obviously they were –"

"Oh, because an Ephemeral killed them? Well, I could kill you with my brain. So that makes you weak, doesn't it?"

"With your brain?"

"Yeah, I don't even need my magic. You are such an asshole sometimes I don't –"

"Children," Duo interrupted their fight, even though it amused him. It sounded as though they had had this argument countless times before. They looked at him, and Hilde flushed with embarrassment. Wufei looked completely unrepentant.

"We need to question the Council and see if they know anyone Ephemerals who would be capable of this kind of thing," Wufei said with a jerk of his head to the walls to indicate the photos.

"Wha – no, that's not going to happen."

Wufei scowled.

"The new legislation emphasizes that the Council must work with human law enforcement on all cases involving the illegal use of magic.

"How do you know this was illegal?" Duo challenged.

"Murder is illegal," Hilde pointed out.

"Yeah, well maybe your super arrived on the scene after the murder and put up his circles. You know, waste not, want not."

"No, the organs were removed by magic – and it was the same magic that put up the circle." Hilde argued.

Duo nodded absently.

"Sure, sure, but no one at the Council was there, so they don't know that – and your photos don't prove anything. Furthermore, the Council does not let a null intimidate them into participating in a police investigation." He shot a meaningful look at Wufei.

"Exactly." Hilde said.

Duo frowned in confusion, but Wufei groaned.

"Not this again–"

"I've already got the paperwork ready to go, this is the absolute best strategy, and –"

"This is the absolute most insane strategy. How do you even know you can trust him? You've known him for three days!"

"My magic likes him –"

"Your magic? That is complete –"

"Again, as cute as your old married couple routine is, include me in the conversation or I'm going home and going back to bed," Duo interrupted.

Both turned to him.

"Well, I've been thinking," Hilde started. "Quatre is a…wonderful human being, but he doesn't really understand that people commit crimes, and that not everyone has everyone else's best interests at heart."

"That's a nice way of saying he's an idealistic moron," Duo pointed out.

"He's not a moron!"

"I agree," Duo tried to mollify her, and he did. He thought that Quatre was very intelligent, and very powerful. But his sense of justice and his desire to do good were going to get him killed if he didn't learn to be more cynical, and fast.

"Anyway, and then there's you – who obviously appreciates that most people are motivated by darker things than love and happiness," Hilde continued.

"A nice way of saying I'm a cynical bastard."

"Yes," Wufei growled.

Hilde rolled her eyes.

"But you have no background in police work."

"Not really," Duo agreed.

"So, in order for this task force to really be effective, you need someone who is magically powerful AND cynical AND with a criminal justice background to be able to regularly interface with the Council."

Hilde drew in a deep breath.

"So, I want to become your servant."

Duo had not expected this conversation to go in that direction.

He looked at Wufei, and from the dark expression on his face, it was clear that he did not approve of Hilde's idea.

"Um, let me get this straight, you want to commit yourself to a lifetime of service to me. You want to be available to fulfill my every need – magical, emotional, physical, sexual– for the next one hundred years. You realize that I will be able to completely drain you of your magic, if I want. I will have complete control over your life – I could make you quit this job, I could make you go out and go on a killing spree."

"Actually," Hilde jumped in as Duo drew a breath to continue, "I've got the paperwork right here, and -"

"Paperwork?" Duo echoed in confusion.

"The Contract."

"The – what the hell are you talking about?"

Hilde rolled her eyes but marched off to one of the cubicles and returned a moment later with a stack of papers.

"The Contract," she repeated and shoved it into his hands.

Duo flipped through it, skimming over the pages.

"Where did you get this?"

"Quatre – he's been working on this day and night for the last two days, after you told him about Anthony."

"I –he told you about –"

"I'm sorry, but Quatre and I are friends, so yes, he told me. And I am sorry for you. I – I don't expect that kind of relationship with you, but I understand that over time, we will probably come to mean quite a lot to each other. I'm okay with that."

Duo shook his head, this simply could not be happening.

"You're telling me that Quatre Winner drafted a contract for human servants."

"Yes, and we would be the first to utilize it. This has already been added to the Magical Code in Washington, and it will become law for all servants and masters to engage in this kind of contract. Now, you can see on page twelve that I listed out all of the things you aren't allowed –"

Duo stopped listening and started to walk out. He needed to find Quatre, and he needed to beat the hell out of him. What was he thinking?

He was vaguely aware of Hilde and Wufei calling his name, but Duo ignored them. He walked out into the bright Vegas sunlight and started walking towards the Strip.

As he walked he held up one hand to flag down a taxi. One stopped by him before he had gone more than a block, and he hopped in and gave the driver directions to Quatre's apartment.

 

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When he arrived he didn't bother to knock, but instead used a very handy spell to simply force the door open.

Quatre was in the kitchen making what appeared to be a gourmet breakfast. He looked up at Duo in surprise.

"Good morning – how did you get in?"

"Magic," Duo growled. He threw the contract at Quatre. "What the hell is this?"

Quatre awkwardly caught the papers, glanced briefly at the front page, and then set it down on the counter.

"It looks like the contract that Hilde drafted to become your servant," he said mildly.

"Obviously. What –why – are you out of your mind?"

Quatre frowned, and was silent as he pulled out two plates and proceeded to cover each with an assortment of fresh fruits and split the omelet he had made in half and put one on each plate. He handed one of the plates and a fork to Duo before leaning back against the counter and taking a bite of his own omelet.

Duo stared down at the food for a moment, but it smelled wonderful, and not even his anger at Quatre's stupidity could keep him from having a bite, and then a second.

"I don't think so. I've listened to your horror stories about the Council, especially regarding the last Arbiter, your servant. You keep insisting that humans are weak and that the Council – and the Old Ones in general – are evil and manipulative. Well, I'm not sure that I completely agree with you about that, but I saw the need for safeguards. Yes, we have laws that are intended to prevent Old Ones from harming humans, but that is for the general public. What about those humans – specifically Ephemerals – who have to interact with Old Ones on a regular basis?"

"Servants."

"Yes. As it was, it seemed that the relationship between a servant and a master was completely unsupervised – a master could do whatever he wanted with his servant."

"That is sort of the point of it, yes."

"Well, that was then. This is now – and now there need to be safeguards. Did you read it?" Quatre nodded at the contract.

"Not really."

"You should, before you sign it, but –"

"I'm not signing it!"

" – as I was saying, it outlines Hilde's expectations from the arrangements, and there is a section for you to fill out as well. It's completely legally binding, and can be altered to fit whatever arrangement a servant and master want to work out. For example, Hilde has outlined that a sexual relationship is not the basis for this contract, but that…a physical reflection of your bond would not be unwelcome. Some servant's and master's might prefer to be more explicit and forbid any sexual conduct between the parties."

Duo frowned as he tried to work that out. He shook his head.

"This will never work."

"Yes, I think it will. Especially if you can make it work."

"No, no, you don't understand. The Council will never agree to this."

"They have to, it's law."

"It's your law – and while it's a neat trick getting Congress to immediately sign your ideas into legislation – the Council won't give a shit. You said that thing is legally binding? Again, the Council doesn't care. The relationship between a servant and a master isn't governed by any written code. The minute I bind Hilde to me, this Contract doesn't mean anything because our bond will prevent her from even caring about it in the first place."

Quatre frowned.

"Surely –"

"How is a servant bound to a master?" Duo interrupted.

Quatre frowned. "I don't know. You know that I don't."

"Right – which is why you should have asked me about this little idea of yours before you got crazy with it. Any Magical contract is made with three things – blood, body, and magic. To make someone your servant, you take their blood, you share your magic, and you share your body."

"You take their blood?"

Duo nodded. "Vampires drink it, obviously. Shape shifters lick it – so sort of the same."

"What do you do?"

"Dark Court Faeries like to keep our tradition very private. I'd tell you… but then I'd have to kill you."

Quatre rolled his eyes. "When you say you share your magic, what does that mean?"

Duo shrugged. "Different things for different people."

Quatre looked expectant.

"You forge a link between yourself and your servant. It's…like a magical tether. For some, it's going to be very short, for others, very, very long. Some of us prefer our servants to be Renfields – like from Dracula. Their every thought, desire, and action is focused on us. Some of us prefer our servants to retain their autonomy – so those links are a little longer, a little looser."

"And sharing the body… I'm assuming that's sexual."

"Most of the time, but not always. My first servant, it was a complete accident – I didn't mean to bind her to me, and the physical bond was – it was just a hug. She was brushing my hair, and she hugged me, and – there it was."

Duo swallowed hard as he remembered the incredible warmth and joy that had filled him when Sister Helen had taken him into her lap and brushed his hair, all those hundreds of years ago. He had been filthy, and something in his hair had pricked her finger. She had kissed it – to make the pain go away, she had explained when he looked confused. So he had kissed the tiny spot of red on her index finger as well. The taste of her blood had unleashed something within him, something he had never before experienced, and his magic had exploded at the sensation, and without conscious thought he bound her to him with his magic. She had hugged him after he kissed her and told him what a thoughtful boy he was – and that had sealed it. His first servant had been a null, a human women who believed desperately in God and had no sense of magic whatsoever.

Quatre looked like he wanted to ask for more information, but Duo shoveled a few more bites of food into his mouth, indicating he had no interest in sharing more than that.

"It's all about the intention of the embrace – the physical embrace. There hase to be emotion attached to it. If you and I hugged – or fucked – it wouldn't do anything to bind you to me."

Quatre flushed red, but then he smiled crookedly.

"And Trowa?"

Duo was startled by the name.

"Uh, what about him?"

"Would you – I mean – if you and he?"

"This has nothing to do with physical attraction," Duo clarified. "It's desire, yes, but not that kind. It's… hard to explain, but basically, if we had a physical embrace, and I desired to bring you closer to me, then that would create the physical bond. But if I was hugging you just to… thank you for setting me up with a great guy, for example," Duo got up and did just that, "see, nothing happens."

He released Quatre and sat back down by his plate.

"So you liked him."

"I'd've had to be straight or dead not to," Duo muttered.

"Good! I knew you two –"

"For the record, I do not need the complication of having a virtual null in my life, and I would appreciate it if you kept your matchmaking desires away from me."

Quatre sighed.

"I just – you seem very lonely."

"Quatre, I'm a thousand years old, I've managed to get the hang of finding my own lovers after all this time. But – I appreciate the thought."

"So you aren't going to see him again."

"No, I'm definitely going to see him again," Duo assured him. "But, my personal life is not something I want to get you mixed up in."

"You make it sound dangerous."

"Quatre, everything about me is dangerous."

"I –"

"For the last seventy years I've been sleeping with a guy who is a professional assassin. He kills creatures like me. In fact, he was just approached with a contract to kill me. I do not need you getting involved with that, and you probably don't want to go involving people you like with it either. Like Trowa. Or Hilde."

"Is he going to kill you?"

"No, he left this morning to go track down whoever put out the hit."

"That – that's good. But, if you're involved with him, why are you going to see Trowa again?"

Duo sighed. "We have a very complicated relationship. We only see each other maybe once every five years. And… Trowa is a pretty remarkable human. Irresistible, even."

Quatre frowned.

"I'm not sure I approve."

"Well, that's okay, because I'm pretty sure it's none of your business. Now – back to that bad idea, do you understand why it's not going to work?" Duo tapped the contract.

"Actually, I think it still can."

"How?"

"When I spent time with the Sufis, they used to mediate disputes between some of the local desert tribes. Whenever they resolved a conflict, they made the two parties shake hands – and they would always put their own hand over the two joined hands. They used their magic to seal the bond, just like you said happens between a servant and their master. So, what if we make the contract part of the physical bond? Right now it's legally binding, but what if the signature isn't just one and then the other, but both together?"

"That…could work, except, once again, the Council won't agree to it."

"But their servants will!"

"No, they won't. I promise you, not one servant to any Council member would want to sign this."

"But – "

"Quatre, you can't win every fight." The blonde looked devastated and Duo sighed. "Listen, what if… what if you try to enforce this for all future bonds? In fact – yes, this can work. You're going to demand an appointment with Une, today, and you're going to tell her that this has been passed into law."

"It has," Quatre muttered.

"Right, well, you're then going to say that you don't agree with it – you think it goes against everything that these bonds represent, and it's ridiculous that the government thinks they can tamper with it."

"You want me to lie."

"I want you to present an alternate perspective," Duo argued with a grin. "Tell her your hands are tied, there's nothing you can do, and that the government is demanding that all registered servants and masters sign these new contracts immediately."

"Which you say they won't agree too."

"Yes, but then tomorrow she's going to tell you that Treize will agree to allow all new bonds to be overseen with these contracts."

"But the old bonds –"

"Are a lost cause. You have got to learn that you can't save everyone. This is the best compromise you will get."

Quatre frowned and poked at his food for a few minutes.

"She'll think I'm bluffing."

"Not if you tell her that I did it."

Quatre looked up.

"You – you'll sign the contract and take Hilde as a servant?"

Duo shrugged.

"I don't really want a new servant. But Hilde is a powerful Ephemeral, and she made a good case."

"You'll take good care of her?"

Duo rolled her eyes.

"Are you her father or something?"

"No, I'm the Arbiter. You are my Consigliore, and she is the second in command of the task force I supervise."

Duo grinned at the steel in Quatre's voice.

"That was impressive."

Quatre smirked.

"Thank you. I've been practicing in the mirror."

Duo chuckled.

"In all seriousness, you don't seem to have the…best history with servants."

"You only know about the one."

"Two – because presumably your first servant was not Anthony."

"Okay, fair enough." Duo sighed. "I can't promise anything. But, it has never been my intention to allow my servants to come to harm. I protected Anthony – and the others – as best as I could, and I will do the same for Hilde. And if she should be hurt, or killed, I will get revenge."

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that," Quatre suggested.

"I always hope it doesn't come to that," Duo muttered.

"So, you want me to contact Treize's servant, even though she hasn't come to me yet."

"Yep – this is urgent, after all. You are trying to help them."

"Okay, so… I just walk into Mandalay Bay and demand to speak with Une? What is her full name?"

"Lady Une. And that's exactly what you do."

"Are you coming with me?"

"Nope. Two reasons," Duo added when Quatre frowned. "First, Une hates me."

"Everyone hates you," Quatre muttered.

"Second, this is a matter for the Arbiter. My presence would imply that you were weak enough to need me."

"So, in front of the Council, having you beside me means that I'm strong. But in front of a servant, it means I'm weak."

"Exactly. Because with a servant, it looks like you aren't powerful enough to do your own dirty work. With the Council, it means that you're powerful enough to have others do your dirty work."

Quatre shook his head.

"That makes absolutely no sense."

"I know," Duo cheerfully agreed. He finished off his breakfast and handed Quatre his empty plate. "Thanks."

"Where are you going?"

"I guess I'm on my way to track down Hilde and make her my human servant."

Duo picked up the contract, saluted Quatre with it, and left.

When he was back on the Strip, he called Hilde and asked her to meet him at his condo.

 

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By the time he arrived back at his condo, she was waiting for him in the hallway, looking a little unsure, and also as if she was spoiling for a fight.

The rebellious look on her face made him grin. He decided that maybe this wasn't the worst idea in the world after all.

"Come in," he said after he opened the door.

She looked at the wreckage of his living room with a raised eyebrow, but remained silent. Duo made a mental note to get that cleaned up.

"Rough night," he said as an explanation. He gestured for her to sit on the couch and he sat across from her on one of the armchairs.

"If you're serious about this, you need to understand a few things about me," he said.

"You… you're going to accept me as your servant?"

"We'll see. Just, sit back and listen, and when I'm done, if you still want to be my servant, we do this thing."

She nodded and leaned back against the cushions.

"I'm half Dark Court Faerie, which means that my magic is very, very different from yours. I've had a few servants who were Ephemerals like Quatre – Empaths. I've had a few nulls. I've had a few Old Ones also, but – "

"Any shape shifters?" She interrupted.

"No," Duo shook his head. "I don't… I have a history with shape shifters. I try to stay as far away from them as I can."

"But," he continued, "I've never had anyone like you."

"Like me."

"Your magic is very raw, but I'm pretty sure that you are going to develop into a very powerful Ephemeral."

She looked pleased with the assessment.

"If you decide to become my servant, you're going to be tying your destiny to mine, and that means that you're going to find a lot of powerful people who want to cause me – and by extension you – pain, and probably try to kill us."

"I'm a cop," she pointed out acidly.

"Right, I know." He sighed. "I'm over a thousand years old, and I've made a lot of enemies in my time. Two days ago someone put out a contract on my life, and pretty soon I'm going to have the best assassins in the world trying to kill me. And that – that is nothing compared to what else I've been through in my life. I walked away from the magical community a hundred years ago, and I didn't want to come back."

"So why did you?"

"Because you need me – because Quatre needs me. Because humans have no idea what they are getting into."

"And because you still want revenge," she added.

Duo sighed. "I took my revenge for Anthony. But – here's the thing. I'm known as the God of Death, I have been… for a very long time. I've made a career out of being the one who scares the monsters. I was the Executioner for the Old Council, and when I moved to the States I became their Executioner until Anthony died. Everyone hates me, or at the very least, fears me. And the reason why is because I'm very, very good at what I do."

"Killing."

"And punishing – torturing, to put it bluntly. Not all crimes are punished with death, and it was my job to enforce Council verdicts."

"Who does it now?"

Duo frowned as he realized he didn't know. He shrugged. "That's something we need to find out."

"So you…tortured and killed people. But you don't anymore."

"I didn't stop doing it because I didn't like it. I was very good at it, because it's what my magic wants. My magic loves the taste of pain and fear."

Hilde started to look a little pale.

"The way a vampire gets a high off of some blood types, I get a high from a well-deserved punishment."

"Deserved?"

Duo sighed. "I don't enjoy just torturing people. I'm not a masochist, but yes, delivering a punishment that is deserved, tasting the contrition and regret of the person… that I loved."

"So you didn't ever hurt someone who didn't deserve it."

"Of course I did. I didn't make Council rulings, I only carried them out. Obviously people were convicted of crimes they didn't commit, and all too often a punishment is considerably harsher than it should be."

Hilde frowned.

"This is a lot to process. I – this doesn't really go with my mental image of who you are."

Duo nodded. "Which is why I'm telling you all of this."

"Does Quatre know?"

"Not all of it. Not about my magic. And you aren't going to tell him. That is very personal, and something that no one besides my servant has the right to know."

"So you aren't a saint, but you aren't a villain either."

Duo chuckled.

"Who says I'm not a villain?"

"But – you do want to protect people. You do carry out justice."

"The justice of the Council is hardly real justice."

"Why haven't you asked for your old job back?"

"I would rather not be the Executioner for a Council run by Treize Khushrenada. He is a brilliant, but cruel man, and I do not believe in the world he wants to create."

"So there – you aren't evil."

"Maybe I am – maybe he's the good guy in this story."

Hilde shook her head.

"No, he isn't. From what I've heard, there's no way he's the good guy. I think that you aren't perfect, I think that you regret your actions – whatever you may say to convince me otherwise. Maybe your magic enjoys pain and fear, but if you did, you and I would not be sitting here. You are good."

Duo shook his head.

"You have no idea what you're talking about. My magic is me."

"You didn't seem to care for my pain or my fear the other night. I've interviewed rapists and serial killers – you aren't one of them. The literally cannot control their desires, and they are PROUD of them – or at least proud of the work they do. You aren't. I believe in you."

Duo closed his eyes and put his head in his hands.

"I do not deserve you."

"Of course not. I'm pretty damn close to being perfect. NO one deserves me."

That drew a laugh from Duo. He looked up at her grin.

"So, how do we do this?" She asked.

"It's a three part ritual. We share blood, body, and magic."

"How do we do that?"

"The blood is the easiest one – I just need to take some from you."

Duo rose from his seat and went into his kitchen. He pulled a knife from the block on the counter and brought it back to her.

"I don't need a lot. Just… a paper cut's worth."

"Does it matter where I cut myself?" She took the knife from him.

"No – I mean, some people think it does. I've never found that it matters."

She nodded and dragged the knife across her forearm, near her elbow, and then looked up at him expectantly.

Duo drew in a deep breath and forced himself to think very happy, very open thoughts.

He leaned down and kissed the wound, sucking slightly to pull the drops of crimson into his mouth. His own blood sang at the sensation, filling him with a jittery sense of purpose. He released her arm and saw that she was flushed and breathing a little unevenly.

He smirked.

"Is this – I feel strange."

"It's not permanent, but it is about to get more intense," Duo told her. He took the knife from her hand and put immediately cleaned it in his kitchen sink. It was never smart to leave your blood on something, even in the safety of your home.

He returned and sat back down in his chair.

"Which one do we do next?"

"It doesn't matter – the order really isn't important. I like to do the blood part first, because it's the easiest."

"What is the hardest?"

Duo shrugged.

"If you do it right, the body and the magic go together, but that isn't always the case. I can link our magic together without touching you, and it will be a little more gentle, or we can do both at once."

"When you say body – what are we talking about? Sex?"

"You humans have such dirty minds," Duo teased.

"I just – I'm only asking."

"It doesn't have to be."

"Do you – are you attracted to me?" Hilde asked, as though suddenly considering the possibility that he wasn't.

"I am," he assured her. "You should know that, in a strictly physical sense, I prefer men. But I've found that physical beauty is only one part of attraction. And that said – I do find you physically attractive."

"You think I look like a boy."

"Not at all. I don't like women who look like men, I like women who look like women – and you are very feminine."

"So – we have sex?"

Duo scratched the back of his neck and tried to think of what to say.

"I'd rather not. I flipped through your contract, and it looks like you want to maintain a lot of autonomy. The closer we are, physically, the stronger our bond is going to be. If you and I become lovers, you are very quickly going to lose any desire to do anything except what I tell you to do."

She frowned. "Your last servant – you were lovers."

"Anthony was a very well trained Empath before we bonded. If you had more training, I wouldn't be worried about it. He was able to construct some defenses against his inclination to surrender to me."

She nodded. "When I am better trained, will that change things?"

"Probably. We'll have to see."

"So, no sex until I've had better training."

"Or never – it isn't required, and if you are interested in someone else – you should pursue that."

She arched an eyebrow.

"Chang?"

She flushed.

"I'm not – we don't –"

"Yeah, yeah, you're about to become my servant and I'm going to learn your deepest desires and worst fears. Don't bother lying."

She sighed.

"He doesn't see me that way. He's completely in love with his ex-wife."

"I'm going to want to know the story about him, but not right now."

"Wait – am I going to learn your desires and fears?"

Duo nodded.

"I'm going to try and keep you out of my head as much as I can, but I haven't done this in a while, and I'm used to having an Empath to do some of the work. I – I'll apologize now."

She drew in a deep breath.

"Alright, I'm prepared for lots of dark and twisty thoughts."

"I wish it was that easy. Okay – let's do these two at the same time, okay?"

She nodded and sat forward on the edge of the couch.

"We're going to sign this contract of yours, my hand around yours, and I want you to use your magic and reach out towards me. Try to find my magic, not just feel it, but reach for it – like you wanted to actually hold it. At the same time, think about a sense of physical connection between us."

"I think I can do that – what happens if I mess up?"

"We'll try again."

"Okay." She nodded. "I'm ready."

Duo knelt in front of her and held her dark gaze for a moment, giving her one last chance to back out.

She smirked and pulled a pen out of her pocket and presented it to him with a flourish.

He rolled his eyes, but gripped her hand in his own and guided it to the contract, letting the pen hover over the paper.

After a moment, she pulled their hands down to the sheet and started to sign her name.

He could feel her reaching out with her magic, and it felt like the sun breaking through on a cloudy day. He embraced it, bringing that lightness into himself, and opened his defenses to her.

There was a glorious, bright moment as they were bonded together. Her joy and passion flooded through him, and he shared her sense of triumph and relief. And then the next moment it started to go wrong.

Just as he had drawn her into himself, she had drawn him into her, and his darkness was clearly more than she had expected. With a cry, she pulled away from him.

Duo sat back on his heels, giving her space as she buried her head in her hands.

"Oh my god, oh god, you – there's so much– Duo!" She looked up at him, and her face was tearstained.

He joined her on the couch and pulled her into his arms. He rubbed her back in soothing circles.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Hilde."

"How do you get up every day?" Her voice broke.

"It's not easy," he confided. He reached out, probing their connection, and decided that it was solid. She had pulled away from the physical embrace, but not before they had bonded together.

Duo drew in a deep breath, and with that breath he put his defenses back in place, gently easing Hilde out of his mind and his memories. She sagged against him in relief.

"Who – who was that light? There was this amazing light buried in the back, under all of the pain. He was golden. Was that Anthony?" She pushed away and sat up, brushing away her tears and putting herself together.

"No – you saw that much?" He hadn't realized how much he had opened himself up to her.

She nodded.

"Who was he?"

"My brother," Duo said around a hard lump. "The closest thing I ever had to a brother, anyway."

"What happened to him?"

"He died saving my life."

"I'm sorry."

Duo nodded and stood.

"Right, well, you should get back to work before Chang tries to arrest me for abducting you or obstructing justice or something."

Hilde smiled shakily but she stood.

"Thank you, Duo."

"I wouldn't go thanking me just yet. Um – tomorrow night you'll be coming with Quatre and I to a Council meeting. Try to wear something… artistically slutty."

She chuckled.

"I'll do what I can. Where should I meet you?"

"I'll call you around eleven and see where you are."

She nodded and looked at him, her dark gaze serious.

"I just want to hold you and make all of your pain go away."

"That'll pass – or at least, you'll be able to ignore it after a while. Our bond gets stronger over time, but you can also start to manipulate it more."

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but instead she shrugged and walked to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Be safe," he cautioned her.

"Will you come rescue me if I get in trouble?" She joked.

"If I can," he promised. "Whenever you feel strong emotions, I'll feel them too. So – if you do get in trouble, make sure that I know how pissed off and scared you are so that I can find you."

She grinned.

"Oh, I'll be pissed off for sure. Bye."

Duo waited until she closed the door behind her before he threw himself face first onto the couch. He groaned into the cushions.

He had not wanted this kind of complication, and he had not counted on Hilde's magic feeling so good inside of him. She truly was like a breath of fresh air after years spent in a prison cell. He knew that he would quickly become addicted to her, and he was terrified that something would happen to her. He knew something would – she was involved in his life now, and that never spelled longevity for anyone.

Just as he was working himself into a dark spiral of despair, his phone rang.

Duo assumed it was Wufei, and he pulled it out, spoiling for the chance to yell at the Chinese man. Instead, his phone identified the caller as Trowa.

He rolled over onto his back and answered the phone.

"Morning," he said.

"Good morning – I hope that I didn't wake you or…"

"No, no, I'm awake."

"And you like the day time."

Duo frowned at the strange statement, and then he realized that Trowa was tactfully trying to ask if he was a vampire.

"Yes, I like the day time. I prefer the night, but only because I don't look so ridiculously pale. The sun out here in crazy."

Trowa chuckled.

"How would you like the chance to show off your pale skin tomorrow morning?"

"Doing what, exactly?"

"Spending the day outside."

Duo shrugged, and then realized that Trowa couldn't see it.

"With you, I hope."

"Yes, with me."

"Then I could see myself doing that. What time tomorrow morning?"

"I'll pick you up at nine."

"Okay – I'll see you then. Uh, should I wear something in particular?"

"Outdoor clothes – comfortable, thick soled shoes."

"Okay, well, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning."

"Me too."

Trowa ended the call and Duo set his phone down on the coffee table.

He stared up at the ceiling and decided that fate was about to screw him over, or that she had decided to be kind to him for a change.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter 4

When Duo opened his door the next morning to let in his date, he was still trying to figure out what exactly, the date would entail.

"Good morning," Trowa said with a slight grin. Duo didn't know if Trowa's morning-person personality spelled doom for this relationship or not. For now, it was simply a nice change.

"Morning," Duo gestured him into the apartment and looked over Trowa's attire.

He looked every inch the outdoorsman. He was wearing some kind of fitted, gray, high-tech fabric trousers festooned with pockets, a fitted, mock turtle neck shirt made of some tight, stretchy material, hiking boots, and a faded gray baseball cap. The strap of a backpack was visible dangling from one shoulder. He looked like a North Face advertisement.

"You look ready to scale a mountain," Duo commented.

"Not quite – I thought we would go hiking."

"In the desert? Is this a date or a convenient way for you to hide my dead body?"

Trowa rolled his eyes.

"It'll be fun. It's late fall, so it won't be hot, there shouldn't be too much snow –"

"Snow? Where are we going?"

"Red Rock. It's about an hour north of here, but it's pretty high up. I checked the weather – it's a great day for a hike."

"This is the first time I've ever had a date at nine in the morning," Duo told him. "And the absolute first time I've ever been asked to go hiking for fun."

Trowa smirked.

"Good. That means I won't be competing against anyone else in your memories."

"Is this okay?" Duo asked, gesturing to his clothes. He had put on an old pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a battered pair of sneakers. It was as close to 'outdoor' clothing as he had.

"Do you have a long sleeved shirt, sweater, or jacket? In case you get cold?"

Duo found it ridiculous that it was eighty degrees outside and Trowa was asking him to get a sweater, but he hunted in his closet for something and came up with a Princeton sweatshirt. He handed it to Trowa, who packed it into his backpack.

"Ready?" The taller man asked with a grin.

Duo rolled his eyes but followed him.

Trowa's car was a Prius coated in the same thin layer of sand that every car seemed to be covered with. The car ride was quick, and Trowa spent the time giving Duo hiking tips, listing plants not to touch, gorges not to fall into, and generally making Duo regret ever getting out of bed that morning.

However, when they arrived at Red Rock just before ten and Duo saw the intense desert sun illuminate the thousands of bright red and orange rock formations he was momentarily stunned.

"This is amazing. I've never seen anything like it."

Trowa smirked. "So maybe this won't be such a nightmare?" He said.

Duo shrugged. "That remains to be seen."

Trowa parked the car in a dusty parking lot beside a sign leading to 'Ice Box Canyon.' The sign proclaimed the trail to be 'Difficult' and Duo gave Trowa a questioning look.

"I think you can handle it," Trowa assured him.

"I am not afraid to make you carry me," Duo warned, but he pulled on the Dodgers baseball cap that Trowa handed him and followed Trowa up the trail.

If nothing else, he would have an excellent view of the work of art that was the other man's ass.

"So, when you say you aren't human, what are you?" Trowa asked after half an hour of walking.

Their pace was slow enough that Duo wasn't too alarmed by the terrain, and he had been enjoying taking in the nature that surrounded them.

"Well, I'm half Faerie and half… something. Dunno what."

"Aren't their two kinds of faeries?" Trowa asked. He turned around and passed Duo a water bottle.

Duo took a few sips and passed it back. Trowa had slowed so that he was walking beside Duo, and while Duo missed the view, he appreciated not talking to Trowa's back.

"Yeah – most humans don't know that."

Trowa shrugged.

"I've always been interested in magic - my ancestors were Gypsies – so when it became public knowledge that there were magical beings I started doing some research."

That explained the faint hint of magic Duo felt from Trowa, and he was relieved that it was something so benign as having distant, Gypsy blood. He had met a few full-blooded Gypsies, in Europe, and they had been frighteningly powerful.

"I'm Dark Court."

Trowa frowned, and it was clear he was trying to think of a polite way to ask his next question. Duo saved him the trouble.

"That would be the bad kind."

"Is there? I mean – you don't strike me as evil incarnate," Trowa said mildly.

Duo chuckled.

"I hide it well," he assured Trowa. He shrugged. "There's a lot of myths about Dark Court faeries being evil – but I think that stems from the nature of our magic. Light Court Faeries love the sun, and their magic is also…very light. Lots of nature magic, healing, that sort of thing. Dark Court Faeries, well, we're darker, obviously. We love the moon and the night. Our magic is less positive. We can't heal things, but we can destroy them. We can't make things grow, but we can kill them. It's… sort of two halves of one whole. But – it's all about how you use it, you know? I mean – take a tumor, right? If I was a Light Court Faerie I could use magic to encourage your other cells to grow and heal it. Or I could encourage the tumor to grow, and kill you. Now, as a Dark Court Faerie I've got the same choices – I can kill the tumor, or I can kill the other cells around it and let it keep growing. But, that's just an example."

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"Aren't all magic users unique? What does your magic do?"

Duo frowned and tried to think of a way to explain it that wouldn't result in him getting left alone while Trowa ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

"Not a good second date conversation?" Trowa hazarded.

"Well, not if I want there to be a third date."

"Do you?" Trowa's green eyes sparkled with amusement.

"So far – yeah. I'm still halfway convinced that you might lead me over a cliff, however."

"So little faith," Trowa muttered and shook his head.

"But, for the record, you aren't a mass murderer or serial killer?" Trowa asked after a few minutes of silent hiking.

"No," Duo assured him, and himself. He had killed people, lots of people, but never without good reason. He shook his head. He sounded pathetic even to himself.

"Can I ask how old you are?"

"Around a thousand years old."

Trowa's facial expression was neutral, and Duo was glad that the other man was able to control his reactions so well. He did NOT want a human who freaked out about who he was.

"And you've never been hiking on a date before?" Trowa shook his head. "That is tragic."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Thankfully I've got you to save me from the horror of having never done it," Duo muttered.

"There's a waterfall not too far away – I thought we would stop there and eat lunch," Trowa said.

"So, you're a strip – performer at Chippendales and a nature enthusiast."

"They two aren't mutually exclusive," Trowa said. He shrugged. "My job means that I have a lot of free time during the day, so I take advantage of it."

"How did you – did you always – um, why Chippendales?" Duo finally asked.

"I actually moved here and interviewed for a job as a bartender at the Rio, but one of the Chippendales casting agents saw me and asked me to audition." Trowa shrugged one shoulder. "I used to dance, and I keep in shape, so –"

"And you're happy? Doing that?"

"It's work. It pays the bills."

"Yeah, but what about in… ten years? Or fifteen years?"

"Are you asking me what happens when I get old?"

"Well, you are human, so… yeah."

"I'm saving up to go back to school. I'd like to be a doctor."

Duo was impressed, and a little relieved. While he didn't judge Trowa for working as a glorified stripper, he had been concerned that it was his only goal in life.

They arrived at the waterfall and Duo was awed by its simple beauty. It wasn't huge, just a steep cliff with a thin trickle of water, but the entire surrounding was lush with greenery. Duo was amazed that just outside of this canyon they were surrounded by the desert.

Lunch turned out to be turkey and cheddar sandwiches and trail mix.

Duo sat down on a rock beside Trowa and dug in, surprised at the appetite he had worked up.

"What do you miss the most – about the past?"

Duo thought for a moment. There were people he missed and places, but those were very personal losses to him.

"Riding."

"Like horses?"

"Yes. I hate cars. I cannot wait for the next mode of transportation to come along and replace them."

Trowa looked amused. "What don't you like about them?"

"Well, for one, I'm a Faerie, so I have a pretty strong connection to the Earth, and I don't like the pollution. For another, I hate being boxed in like that. I really miss the days where I could ride a horse everywhere and just – be outside and be free."

"Are you an animal lover?"

"I respect animals. But if you're asking me if I like pets, the answer is no. When I kept horses, they were work animals. I cared for them, and in turn they did a job for me. But pets… I don't like the idea of keeping something just to look at it or pet it."

Trowa nodded, and Duo was surprised.

"You are the first human who hasn't tried to convince me that I'm wrong about pets. You humans seem to think that companionship is all there is to it."

Trowa shrugged and looked a little uncomfortable.

"Perhaps it's my heritage coming out, but ownership in general bothers me, especially with animals. I don't care for zoos, I hate aquariums. Rehabilitation centers are one thing, but – no, I don't like the idea that humans own animals just because we are higher on the food chain."

It almost sounded like a reflection of Catherine Bloom's arguments about Old Ones owning shape shifters.

"Please tell me you aren't one of the Green Peace people who takes a raft and tries to ram a whaling ship."

"Not really," Trowa said with a smirk. "But I do donate money to them."

Duo shook his head in mock despair.

"I have to admit… this has actually been fun," Duo said when they finished and started to hike again.

"I'm glad. Sorry if it wasn't what you were expecting."

"I don't know what I was expecting at nine in the morning."

It was dusk by the time they arrived back at the car, and Duo insisted they wait and watch the sun set behind the mountains.

After putting on their sweaters they perched on the hood of the car, shoulders against one another, in companionable silence.

The last rays of orange were streaking over the horizon when Duo's phone rang. With a groan, he answered it.

"It's not Treize," Heero said, without preamble.

Duo frowned and jumped off the car. He walked a few feet away, out of Trowa's hearing.

"Are you sure?"

"Duo, I am very good at what I do. Of course I'm sure."

"Okay – sorry. I just… huh. Any clues as to who it might be?"

"No. Just a series of fake companies based across Europe. I've been… interviewing the presidents of the companies. No one knows anything."

Duo had been present for one of Heero's 'interviews' before. The man was exceedingly thorough. If someone wasn't spilling every secret to him within half an hour, then they didn't have secrets to tell.

"Then how do you know it isn't Treize?"

"They keep saying something about 'brothers' and the Old Ways, and no one recognizes his name."

Duo frowned as the words stirred his memories.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Trowa leaning against the car, a concerned look on his face.

"Listen, I have to go. "

"I'm going to visit a few friends. I'll be in touch again in a few days."

The way Heero said friends made them sound like anything but.

"Don't do anything stupid," Duo warned him.

"You're one to talk. Expect visitors to arrive starting tomorrow," Heero added before he hung up the phone.

"Everything okay?" Trowa asked when Duo rejoined him.

"Er… I'm sure it's nothing." Duo shrugged.

Trowa didn't look convinced, but he let Duo get in the car without further comment.

The ride back to Duo's condo was quiet. Duo was lost in thought, trying to figure out who else could be trying to kill him, and Trowa seemed inclined to let him stew.

When Trowa parked the car in the garage at Duo's condo, he turned to face him.

"Listen –"

"Are you seriously trying to break up with me again?" Trowa interrupted, a look of amused exasperation on his face.

"No, this is the part where you break up with me."

"Are you straight?"

"I'm not! I – I like you a lot. More than I should, a lot more than I should. Which is why I can't see you anymore."

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"Is this about protecting me again?"

"Yes. Look – you want to know about my magic? Fine. My magic allows me to project negative emotions. It would take me ten seconds to make you believe that you hated your own mother enough to kill her. I can convince an entire room of people that they are dying in a fire. And that's the easy stuff. My magic is very, very dark."

"And yet Quatre insists that you are one of the kindest people he knows."

Duo frowned at that. He hadn't realized that Quatre had spoken with Trowa about him, or that Quatre felt that way after their conversation yesterday.

"Well, Quatre's overly optimistic."

"You like me. More than you should."

"Yeah, which is why –"

" Give me a chance."

Duo frowned.

"I don't understand."

"If you like me so much, then give me a chance. You aren't even letting me get freaked out about this – you're doing all the freaking out for both of us."

"You could get killed."

"I thought there were laws discouraging your kind from killing mine."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Discouraging is exactly the way I would describe it. Look, I'm not exactly…popular with the magical community. A lot of people hate me on principle alone. If they wanted to, they could make your life extremely difficult."

"Maybe I could use a little more excitement in my life."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"This is crazy. You are an incredible guy – smart, funny, handsome. Why are you so interested in this?"

Trowa shrugged.

"I like you. More than I should."

Trowa's lips were curved upwards in a slight, confident grin.

Almost against his will, Duo leaned over and kissed him.

He felt that same electric spark between them. Trowa's skin felt warm, and his lips were firm under Duo's. Unable to resist, Duo slipped his tongue between Trowa's lips and tasted the other man.

Trowa's hands came up and buried themselves in Duo's hair.

Duo shifted closer, drawn in by the warmth and exotic scent of the other man. His aftershave smelled like cinnamon mixed with something stronger and darker.

Eventually, Trowa pulled away, a self-satisfied look on his face.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"You're insane," Duo told him.

"And irresistible."

"Clearly." Duo groaned and looked at his watch. It was almost seven.

"I'd love to invite you up, but I have to get to work."

Trowa nodded.

"Me too, actually."

Duo allowed himself a brief mental fantasy of Trowa at work.

"So… can we skip the whole you trying to break up with me for our third date? Just to try something new?"

"Sure. Do you have any plans for Monday night?"

"I have a show at eight, but I should be free after... I'll be done around nine-thirty."

"Great. I'll pick you up."

"We are discouraged from having dates meet us. Ruins the illusion."

"Okay… then call me when you're free."

"Sounds good."

Trowa leaned forward and kissed him again, a very brief, very intense kiss that left Duo wishing he didn't have somewhere else to be.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duo showered and changed into his standard black uniform before taking a taxi to Quatre's office. It was just after eight when he arrived, but Quatre was working furiously behind his desk, seemingly intent on making a dent in the huge pile of paperwork on his desk.

For the next four hours Duo sat across from him, offering advice and explanations whenever Quatre questioned him.

At eleven, Duo called Hilde and asked her to meet them at Quatre's office. She arrived just before midnight, and Duo felt a jolt of energy just at her presence. He realized that he had missed having a servant, and it was clear that Hilde was also enjoying the boost of power and energy she felt at having Duo near her.

She had taken his 'artistically slutty' comment to heart, and was dressed in the shortest dress he had ever seen, the hem just barely covering her ass. She was wearing knee high black leather boots, which only seemed to emphasize the pale flesh of her thighs and make the dress seem even shorter. The dress itself was black and fitted, with a high neck, and a back cut so low he could see the base of her spine. Her makeup was heavy around her eyes, making them appear even darker and more luminous than they already were.

She noticed him looking her over and smirked.

"How do I look?" She asked and cocked one hip.

"Fantastic," Duo told her with a smirk.

Quatre, however, was frowning slightly.

"I – is it really wise for her to parade around in front of them like that?"

"Yes, DAD, it is. I already explained this to you. Old Ones love to think about having sex with humans. Hilde is going to be a wonderful distraction, trust me."

Quatre frowned, but shrugged and led them out of the office.

It had been a while since Duo had had a servant, and something about Hilde seemed particularly enticing to him. He ran one hand down her spine, enjoying her shiver at his touch, and also the jolt of magic that travelled from her body to his own. She actually moaned at the sensation.

"I'm really starting to rethink this no-sex rule," she confided to him in a whisper.

"Trust me, it would be a huge mistake." But even though he meant the words, Duo regretted them. The sensation of making love to your servant was incredible – the shared sensations, the magic, all of it made for amazing orgasms. It also left you closer and more vulnerable than Duo was really comfortable with.

Hilde nodded and stepped away from his touch.

"I, ah, noticed that you seemed to be extremely happy earlier this evening," she told him, her voice teasing.

Duo flushed in embarrassment. He needed to work on controlling himself and his emotions now that he had another servant.

"Yeah, I had a date."

She arched an eyebrow.

"And…?"

"And it was nice. And I was extremely happy."

"It was nice. I – well, I was incredibly depressed when I went home yesterday."

"I know." Duo had felt her crushing despair as though it was his own, and he had been nearly overwhelmed with his own guilt, knowing that he had caused her that pain.

"I just – I'm not a very dark person. My life is dark, my work is, but I can't let myself sink into that."

"I don't want you to," he assured her.

"You just have so much pain. It's going to take getting used to. I'm working on it." She reached out and grabbed his hand, and he could feel her magic reaching out as well in a kind of metaphysical hug.

He chuckled and squeezed her hand before letting go.

"Thank you."

"We're going to be late," Quatre said, his voice betraying his tension, as he waited for them by his car.

"Coming." Duo and Hilde picked up their pace and joined him in the car.

The ride was quiet, and Duo could sense Quatre's increasing anxiety. He didn't blame the man – this was not going to be a pleasant evening, and if Duo could have spared him, he would have.

Sylvia's servant met them by the private elevators in the main lobby at Mandalay Bay. It was a young woman, an Ephemeral with dark hair and eyes. Her power was very quiet, and her entire demeanor was unassuming.

In years past, Sylvia's servants had tended towards large, well-muscled male Ephemerals with a talent for sex magic. He had no idea what had happened to Sylvia's last servant, or why she had chosen someone so clearly against the grain of her usual preferences.

"Good evening. I am Margaret, Sylvia's servant. Please, allow me to escort you upstairs." She gestured towards the open elevator and Duo, Quatre, and Hilde followed her in.

The ride was in complete silence until they started to rise into the cloud of powerful, old magic that hung around the top of Mandalay Bay. It reminded Duo of a few more warnings he wanted to impart to Quatre before they arrived.

"Look, just – whatever you see happen, just – don't try to stop it," Duo counseled as they elevator rose. Sylvia's servant was a silent presence beside him, and Duo did his best to ignore her.

"What – is something bad going to happen?" Quatre asked.

"Probably. Since you've been invited to watch the festivities, Treize is going to make sure that they are… extra festive. He'll try to provoke you into overstepping your bounds, or into doing something stupid. And he's going to be pissed about the servant legislation, so he's going to try to punish you for that. Just consider yourself a silent observer. You won't be able to change anything tonight, so… try not to get too involved, okay?"

Quatre nodded, but the expression of reluctance on his face told Duo that his warning had fallen on deaf ears. Quatre was an idealist, and he was a humanitarian. He clearly considered it his duty to do whatever he could, for whoever he could.

Duo hoped it didn't get them killed.

Hilde, on the other hand, had on what was clearly her cop face. Her expression was completely neutral, and Duo was very grateful that she was his servant and not Quatre. He had no doubt that she would be horrified by what she witnessed tonight, but she at least had enough experience to be able to hide her reactions.

Margaret led them through the empty living room and deeper into the penthouse. She came to an abrupt halt at the entrance to a long, open room that was lined with throne like chairs on two sides, with a raised dais and larger throne at the opposite end of the room from where they stood. Each of the chairs was occupied by Council members, flanked by their servants and entourages. On the dais, Treize sat, the same lion shape shifter at his feet.

The center of the room was bare, the white marble floor polished so well that it was practically reflective. The only decoration on the floor were three circles of different sizes, one red, one white, and one black. The circles touched edges, leaving an open, concave triangle in their center. The white circle was the smallest, just large enough for a human body to stretch out in, with the red being slightly larger, and the black circle being three times larger than the white.

It had been a long time since Duo had been in a room like this, and he wished that he could turn around and walk out.

"Ah, good, our visitors have decided to join us after all." Treize smiled and gestured with one hand.

A single human servant walked out, bearing a very ordinary chair, and set it down off to one side of the entrance.

It was a calculated slight – as Arbiter, Quatre was entitled to his own throne on the Council, and his position certainly warranted a closer seat to Treize than this one.

"Thank you," Quatre said gravely, and took the seat. Duo took up position just behind him, with Hilde standing just to his left. It was a strange feeling for him – in years past he had had a throne on this Council, and now he stood behind a human as though he were a servant.

"Lucrezia, please begin."

The dark haired vampire rose from her throne just to the right of Treize and stood before him, looking out at the assembled Council.

"Our first case is regarding the Creation of Mariemaia. Bring forth Evangeline and Mariemaia."

A female vampire and a small child, no more than eight years old, were brought before Treize. The vampire was desperately clutching the child, and both were crying.

"Evangeline, you are charged with breaking one of the Council's oldest laws. You have created a child vampire. You may offer your defense."

Noin sat back down on her throne.

"I work in the hospital, as a nurse. I'm an MRI technician. Mariemaia was brought in by her parents. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She was going to die! I… I knew that I could save her. She's such a sweet child, and –"

"You broke the Council law," Treize interrupted, his voice conveying supreme boredom. "She is to be Executed." He waved one hand, and two vampires stepped up from behind his throne.

One was a tall, thin man with dark skin, and every inch of his lean body seemed to vibrate with deadly energy. Duo didn't recognize him, but he moved with the power and grace that only a very old vampire could manage.

The other was a petite Chinese woman, dressed in a traditional cheongsam in a bright red satin that hugged her slim body tightly. She carried a broadsword that looked impossibly heavy. Unlike her companion, she was clearly a younger vampire. Duo was willing to bet she was less than five years old. She still moved like a human, and there was a luster to her golden skin that would no doubt fade and become silver with time.

Beside him, Hilde gasped. Duo turned his head slightly to look at her, but her eyes were focused on the Chinese vampire.

"That's Meilin," she whispered, catching Duo's gaze.

"Who?"

"Wufei's ex-wife. I recognize her from the photo on his desk. I – I had no idea."

Duo turned back and looked at the vampire again. That explained a lot, he thought.

The man jerked Evangeline away from the child, who cried out, but remained in place. The man led Evangeline to the red circle and pushed her inside it.

As soon as the vampire was inside the circle, its magic took hold of her, forcing her to kneel and look directly at Treize.

"What –" Quatre started to speak.

"She's about to be Executed, don't say anything," Duo cut him off.

"But –"

"Quatre. This is non-negotiable. Treize is speaking the truth – this is one of our oldest laws, and it has always carried this penalty. Please, keep your mouth shut."

Quatre's jaw snapped close with an audible click, and he glared ahead.

Meilin positioned herself in the triangle between the circles. She gave the sword a few experimental swings, and then brought it to rest against the back of Evangeline's neck.

"This is barbaric!" Quatre muttered between clenched teeth.

"It's also pretty damn effective."

With one clean stroke the vampire beheaded Evangeline. The body fell forward, even as the head rolled outside of the circle. It was clear that Evangeline had not been allowed to feed recently, because the stream of blood that rose from her neck made only a small pool on the floor.

He felt Hilde's reaction as swiftly as though it had been his own – she experienced a moment of complete terror, and then shut down her emotions completely. He admired her ability to do that, and made a mental note to talk with her later, after this was over.

The child started to shriek hysterically, and Duo winced at what would happen next. He had only seen two other executions of child vampires, and had been very fortunate to never have had to perform one himself.

The dark vampire started to guide the child towards the red ring.

"Wait."

All faces turned to Treize. He had a speculative look on his face.

"In the past, we have occasionally shown mercy on such… creations. Will anyone step forward and claim this child, or shall we give her death?"

The silence in the chamber was profound, and Quatre twitched on the seat in front of Duo.

"Don't –"

"I will," Quatre spoke loudly, overriding the objection that Duo had whispered into his ear.

Duo closed his eyes and groaned. Not even one case was finished and Quatre was making a mess of things.

"You, Arbiter?" Treize sounded amused.

"Yes, I will."

Treize chuckled.

"Very well. I am sure that your Consigliore will give you the full details of what this means, but as her guardian YOU are responsible for her actions. Her crimes are your crimes. Her punishments will be meted out on you."

"I understand."

"You may fetch her." Treize waved a hand, and Quatre started to rise.

"I'll get her," Duo said and used one hand to push Quatre back down in his seat.

He crossed the long hall quickly and held out a hand to the still sobbing child.

"Come on," he said, not even bothering to hide his annoyance and frustration.

She looked up at him with large blue eyes, her face wet with tears but still unnaturally, deathly pale. Her bright red hair was a tangled mess around her head, and she was dressed in cheap, Disney pajamas.

"No! I want Evangeline!"

"Yeah, well, she's dead, kid. Come on." Duo stepped closer and reached out to grab her.

He instantly regretted it when she sank small, sharp fangs into his wrist.

"Son of a –" he shook her off amidst the laughter from many Council members. He looked at his wrist. She had barely broken the skin, and only a small drop of his dark blood welled up to the skin. He rubbed the wrist against his pants and grabbed her again, pinning her against his side.

He ignored her struggles and carried her across the room and dropped her at Quatre's feet.

"Now would be a really good time to use your magic and get her to calm the fuck down, or maybe even go to sleep," he suggested.

Quatre reached out to the girl and grasped her shoulders lightly, undisturbed when she angled her head to try and bite him.

"Mariemaia, I need you to relax. You've had a very difficult night, and you need to be calm." Quatre's words were infused with some of his power, and Duo could see the bright trail of it wash over the girl.

Her face grew peaceful, and her eyelids dropped. A moment later, she slumped against Quatre's legs, curling up against him like a puppy.

"That was impressive," Duo told him, meaning it. He could see that a number of Council members were also impressed by the performance.

"Well, now that we have that issue resolved, clear the mess and bring forth the next case."

The night continued, with several more cases – all more minor than the first – brought before the Council. The harshest punishment that Treize meted out after the initial execution of Evangeline was to confine one vampire to a silver box for four years. Duo was grateful that Quatre didn't understand just HOW serious of a punishment it was.

He was convinced they had escaped the night relatively unscathed until Noin called forth the final case of the night.

"Bring in Martha Vendomme."

Duo's breath caught at the name, and when the woman was brought before Treize he momentarily stopped breathing.

Martha Vendomme was a shape shifter with a very checkered past. She had been turned a few years after Anthony had been named Arbiter, and she had immediately been brought before the Council when she murdered her creator. Anthony had argued passionately for mercy, while Duo and most of the Council had been against the idea. In the end, Anthony had won her freedom, and she had lived a life on the margins ever since.

Her animal was a leopard, and she looked it with her long, graceful limbs and her sharp featured face.

Duo knew this was going to go to hell very quickly. Hilde picked up on his tension, and she shifted uneasily beside him.

"Martha Vedomme you are accused of attacking your Master, the vampire Alexios."

Alexios, an old but relatively weak vampire that Duo had never paid much attention to stood up and stepped forward. The man was beautiful, and looked like the classical Greek athlete he had once been thousands of years ago. The right side of his face, however, was a mass of scarring. It looked as though someone had raked over it with very large claws.

Duo frowned. If Martha had attacked Alexios the wounds would have healed in a number of hours. So unless this had occurred early in the evening, he should not look like that.

"She clawed me and then poured silver into the wounds," Alexios hissed, his voice filled with hatred.

Duo winced. Silver was a powerful weapon to use against any Old One, but it affected vampires the worst. Alexios might heal some, but he would always have scars from this.

"You may speak for yourself," Treize said. Most of the Council members were showing more interest in this case than they had all evening.

It was rare that a shape shifter attacked their master, and it usually inspired universal hatred for the shape shifter. However, Alexios had always had a reputation of being very rough with his…toys. It didn't surprise Duo that Martha would have attacked him, he was even willing to bet that Alexios had earned it.

"I have nothing to say to this Council," Martha held her head high and refused to look at anyone.

Duo rolled his eyes. Her pride had always been legendary.

"If you will offer no defense, then the harshest punishment will be –"

"Please," Quatre interrupted Noin. "Please, you have the right to justice."

"Justice?" Martha sneered. "There is no justice for my kind. I have been passed around this Council for more than one hundred years, given as a slave to one or another of them. I have no rights, no freedom. The only thing I have is my power, and I used it to fight back." She sneered again as she looked at Alexios. "I was given to him last month, and he tried to rape me."

"It is against Council rules to go against the wishes of your Master," Noin reminded Martha. "Furthermore, to strike your Master is a grave offense."

Quatre looked ready to jump in again, but Duo gripped his shoulder hard enough to no doubt leave a bruise. The blonde hissed in pain, but leaned back a little, indicating he would remain silent. For the moment.

"This has nothing to do with being a servant," he whispered to Quatre before turning to Treize.

"It seems that if Alexios has trouble Mastering his own pets, it's his fault," Duo pointed out.

A few Council members chuckled, and Alexios turned to give Duo a venomous glared. Martha looked up at the sound of his voice and frowned.

"How very true," Treize said after a moment. "Very well, her punishment shall be fifty lashes. Alexios, I suggest that you take better care of your belongings in the future."

"Lashes? Like with a whip?" Quatre demanded, half turning to Duo.

"Yes. It's still pretty harsh, but Martha's tough –"

"Is that a silver whip?" Quatre demanded in horror as Meilin gave a few flicks with the weapon.

Duo winced but inclined his head in agreement.

"But – that –"

"It's better than being executed," Duo reminded him.

"Like hell it is. She was just trying to defend herself!"

Quatre stood up just as Martha was shoved towards the white circle.

"The Arbiter wishes to speak?" Treize asked, his tone conveying amusement.

"Surely self-defense isn't a crime?" He asked.

"You are young, and clearly do not understand our laws. If the Council had been able to appoint our own Arbiter, we would not have to constantly explain the most basic of our laws. I suggest that you educate yourself, Arbiter." The amusement was gone from his voice. "If, however, you take issue with the punishment, you may stand in for her."

This had, Duo realized, been the trap that Treize had been waiting to spring all evening.

Duo glared at Sylvia, but the vampire was scowling at Treize. Clearly, this had not been part of her plan.

"Very well," Quatre started to unbutton his shirt.

"No, no fucking way," Duo knocked his hands away. "You are not a shape shifter. You could be killed."

"So could she! You said it was harsh –"

"Yeah, it is, and it will take her a while to heal from it, but it won't kill her! You're just human! This is what Treize wants!"

"I can't let some innocent woman –"

"She isn't innocent! She could have just clawed him, but she poured silver into the wounds. That was deliberate."

Quatre shook his head.

"Doesn't matter. It is inexcusable what he did to her. I won't stand by and let this happen."

"You are the Arbiter. You cannot put yourself at Treize's mercy!"

"I have to," Quatre said and stubbornly proceeded to continue to unbutton his shirt.

Duo groaned, but then he stepped in front of Quatre.

"I will accept her punishment," he announced.

There was an excited murmur from the Council members.

"No – I –" Quatre started to speak, but Duo turned to glare at him.

"If you want me to do my job, then let me do this. You will die, Quatre."

"But –"

"Look, it'll hurt, but it won't scar me, okay? Just – sit down and let me do this."

Quatre looked ready to protest.

"Please," Duo ground out.

Quatre sighed and sat down.

"You have to keep Hilde out of my head, though." Duo told him, nodding at her. "Our bond is too fresh for me to block her, and she can not go through what is about to happen."

Quatre scowled and looked ready to protest all over again.

"Pleaes," Duo repeated.

Quatre sighed, but after a moment Duo could feel the Empath separating Hilde from him.

She looked ready to argue, but one look from Duo had her holding her silence.

Duo turned back to Treize and the rest of the Council.

"I trust that is acceptable?" He asked.

Treize looked like Christmas had come early. No doubt he was disappointed that the Arbiter wouldn't be stripped bare and whipped before him, but the chance to punish Duo was something that he had been longing for for literally centuries.

Treize licked his lips in anticipation and inclined his head in agreement.

Duo removed his shirt as he walked to the center of the room, flinging it carelessly onto the ground. He heard Quatre gasp behind him, no doubt taken aback by the old scars on his back. He ignored the blonde and continued to move forward.

He was tempted to remove his pants as well, because Meilin had looked a little unsure when she cracked the silver whip. He had had these trousers for a long time, and he didn't relish having her ruin them. At the same time, he wasn't about to give the Council more of a show than he absolutely had to. He decided to keep them on.

He approached the circle and Martha stepped away from it. She was actually a little taller than Duo, and she glared down at him.

"I thought you hated me," she hissed.

"Oh, I do," he assured her. "I'm not doing this for you."

She sneered.

"It was always so easy for the Ephemerals to manipulate you," she said with a shake of her head.

"Go to hell. Anthony fought to keep you alive, and this Arbiter is too. Try and do something meaningful with yourself, will you?" He stepped past her into the circle.

He instantly felt the magic of it probe against him, searching for protective magic to destroy. It found none, since protective magic had never worked for Duo.

He knelt before the circle could force him to, and pulled his long braid of hair over his right shoulder. He sat on his knees, his back straight and his gaze focused on Treize.

"I never thought I would see the day when you would willingly step into that circle again," Treize said, unable to keep the delight out of his voice.

"So happy to oblige your fantasies," Duo muttered.

Treize gestured to the Chinese vampire.

"Unfortunately, Meilin is still learning her craft, she isn't anywhere near your level of mastery with a whip." Treize didn't sound the least apologetic, and Duo steeled himself for a truly painful experience.

Sure enough, when the first lash snapped across his back it landed at an awkward angle, catching his right shoulder, spine, and left hip. He forced himself to remain quiet and ignore the fierce, burning pain of the silver biting into his flesh.

The force of the blow knocked him forward, and as he righted himself he caught the green gaze of the lion at Treize's feet. The gaze was mesmerizing, and Duo found himself staring into those eyes as the lashes continued. It helped, somehow, being able to focus on that sharp, clear gaze. He couldn't detect any emotion in those eyes, but even that was soothing.

He lost count somewhere after the seventeen lash. The pain and burning of the silver blended into one open, fiery wound. He could tell that Meilin was making a mess of his back because most of the vampires on the Council were on the edge of their seats, faces flushed and fangs visible as they grew excited by the scent of his blood.

Faerie blood was prized among vampires – they preferred the Light Court kind, like Zechs, but they also found Dark Court blood to be an exotic feast. Over the years, Duo had had plenty of propositions from vampires desperate to taste him. On a few occasions he had actually been forced to allow a vampire to drink from him, but the experience was far from pleasant, and he avoided shedding his blood at any cost.

Treize had often propositioned him, and he had taken it very personally when Duo refused. No doubt he was enjoying himself immensely now.

Duo wasn't even aware that the punishment was over until Meilin's booted foot tapped against his right ankle. He tore his gaze away from the lion and rose on unsteady feet. He slipped in his own blood, but managed to remain standing.

"Am I released?" He asked.

Treize inclined his head, and Duo stepped out of the white circle. He walked towards Quatre, taking note of just how pale the blonde man had become. Duo stopped to pick up his shirt, and was unable to stop the gasp of pain as he straightened up and started to walk again.

Hilde stepped forward but caught herself and remained beside Quatre.

"The Council is dismissed," Noin called out just as Duo reached Hilde.

"Duo –" Quatre started.

"Please, do not expect me to talk right now," Duo ground out. "I can barely walk. Just – put my shirt on, please." He directed the last to Hilde, and she took the shirt from him and gently put it on.

He hissed when it came in contact with his back, but he forced himself to button up the front.

"Duo –"

"Not right now. Grab the kid and let's go."

Quatre picked up the still sleeping Mariemaia, and Duo and Hilde followed him from the room. Quatre's pace was brisk, and they made it to the elevators before anyone else was even out of the chamber.

As soon as the doors closed, Duo leaned forward against the wall of the elevator wall and closed his eyes. The pain was intense, and it was through sheer will power that he was still conscious.

"You said it wouldn't scar," Quatre reprimanded him.

"What? It won't."

"But your back – it's covered in scars."

"From something else. Don't worry about it." It was becoming increasingly difficult to think.

"What – what do we do? How do we heal you?"

"I'll be fine," Duo assured him. "Give me a few months and –"

"A few months?"

"A few weeks and it'll just be scars, a few months and it'll look the same as before."

"But – there has to be something."

"Not unless you know any Ephemerals really good at healing spells. Or –"

"Or?"

"Never mind. I'll be fine. Most of this will start to close up tomorrow, it'll just be tricky getting around for a few days."

"This is insane."

"This is Council politics. I asked you to keep your mouth shut tonight."

Quatre was silent for a long moment.

"I'm sorry," he said eventually.

Duo was about to accept the apology, but then Quatre continued.

"You were right – that would have killed me. But, what about Martha? Would she be as badly injured as you?"

"Worse," Duo admitted. "Meilin had no idea what she was doing with that whip. Silver hurts me, but not the same way it does a shape shifter. Martha could have been crippled."

Quatre nodded.

"Thank you."

"Don't expect me to do it again anytime soon," Duo warned.

"I'll keep that in mind," Quatre agreed. He sighed. "I think you should stay with me tonight – I don't want to leave you on your own."

"I've had worse," Duo insisted

"I'm your boss," Quatre reminded him. "So… you're coming home with me."

"Take down your wall, Quatre," Hilde spoke up, her voice very tense.

Quatre looked at Duo for direction.

"Hilde, it's not –" Duo started to argue.

"I can help you, can't I?"

"Yes, but –"

"Quatre, take it down."

With a sigh, the blonde released the magic that had been separating Duo and his servant.

The pain was becoming even more unbearable, and Duo didn't have the strength to shield Hilde from it anymore.

She gasped as she experienced the echo of his pain and reached out for him, one of her slim hands grasping his own.

Just the touch of her skin gave him more strength, but Duo refused to draw energy from her. The bond was too new, and she was too inexperienced.

By the time they arrived back at Quatre's apartment, Duo was only semi-aware of his surroundings. He was starting to suspect that the lashings were more serious than he had originally thought, but he wasn't about to worry Quatre or Hilde over it. The blonde was freaked out enough – and he had a child vampire to take care of.

"Need to get her tucked away," he told Quatre as he stumbled into the apartment.

"I don't have –"

"Bathroom, bathtub will be fine. Just – lock the door. Tell your staff to keep it closed."

Duo collapsed onto the nearest couch. Hilde sat on the floor beside him and laid her head down beside his. Their hands were still clasped together.

A few minutes later the doorbell rang, interrupting the painful slide into unconsciousness that Duo had been on. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Quatre go to the door and open it.

Catherine Bloom, Martha Vendomme, and a tall, unfamiliar man walked in.

"We came to help," Catherine said.

"Help?" Quatre repeated in confusion.

"We can help him heal faster," Catherine said, gesturing to Duo.

"How?"

"It's something shape shifters do – we heal faster than humans, and if we are with our pack, we heal even quicker."

"But – Duo isn't –"

"Our magic doesn't really discriminate. It will be drawn to his magic, and it will work to heal him."

Quatre looked over at Duo.

"No," Duo said.

"But –"

"I am not going to cuddle with three shape shifters who would rather kill me in my sleep anyway."

Martha smirked at his response, but Catherine sighed in frustration.

"We are trying to repay you for the kindness you showed Martha tonight."

"Wasn't for her," Duo insisted.

"All the same, I am obliged to help you," Martha insisted and it was clear she wasn't any happier with the situation than he was. She glared at Catharine, but the other woman ignored her.

"Stop being an idiot," Quatre jumped in when Duo opened his mouth to protest further.

Duo sighed at Quatre's frustrated tone. The blonde would no doubt drown himself in guilt if Duo was in pain longer than necessary.

"What do I do?"

"We'll need to get your clothes off – it works best with skin on skin contact."

"But I barely know you!" Duo tried to joke.

Catherine did not look amused. She turned to the man beside her.

"Ralph, help him undress. Quatre – is there a room with a bed?"

The blonde looked a little embarrassed, but led Catherine and Martha out of Duo's line of sight.

A moment later, strong arms lifted Duo.

"This is fucking ridiculous," Duo muttered, refusing to look up at the man carrying him.

"Not at the top of my list of fun things either," Ralph assured him.

When they arrived in the guest room that Duo had stayed in last week, Ralph gingerly set him down on his feet and started to strip him.

The act of pulling his shirt off of his back had Duo actually crying out in surprised and renewed pain before he could stop himself.

"Oh my god," Ralph said as he surveyed the damage. "You didn't say it was this bad."

"I didn't realize – there was too much blood," Martha said, sounding defensive.

"He smells good," Ralph added, and Duo felt the man run his nose through his hair.

"So not the time," Duo complained.

"What – what can I do?" Hilde spoke up.

"Who are you?" Martha asked, a sneer in her voice.

"I'm his servant."

Martha laughed.

"How unfortunate for you."

"You should join us," Catherine said after a moment of silence. "Having you close will help, and we could use the extra magic – and you are no doubt feeling some of his pain anyway."

Catherine guided him to lie down on the bed, and a few moments later he felt warm, naked bodies pressed against both of his sides and across his legs.

"So… what happens now?" He asked into the pillow under his face.

"Now you try to get some sleep," Catherine told him, "and we promise not to kill you in your sleep."

"'K," Duo closed his eyes and tried to ignore the pain. It was surprisingly easy. The body heat from the shape shifters made him feel as though he were wrapped in some enormous heating blanket. He could feel their magic, wild and bestial and so different from his own, reach out and wash over him. Hilde's magic mixed with theirs, and he reached out towards her, trying to hold on to her magic. She was to his right, and he laid one hand across her warm body, pulling her closer.

"This time," Catherine added just before he passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

 

Chapter 5

"Welcome back."

The voice was female and filled with a comforting, calm sense of humor. As Duo drifted back into consciousness and opened his eyes he was immediately struck by how cold he was.

When he had fallen asleep, he had been surrounded by warmth and other bodies, but now, he was alone and cold and he felt as though he had been hit by a bus.

He focused on the woman sitting in a chair beside the bed. She appeared completely unconcerned by the fact that Duo was completely naked, although the slight, knowing smile on her face seemed to indicate a certain level of appreciation.

She had ash blonde hair pulled into two braids on either side of her face, and her features were a strange blend of exotic angles, with her bright blue eyes set at an angle. She was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans and looked very casual.

"Who are you?" Duo asked. "Where is – where is Hilde?" Duo tried to reach out across their bond and could feel her, very faintly. She wasn't anywhere near him, and she seemed to be exhausted and magically drained. He frowned.

"I'm Sally Po, and Hilde – that's your servant, correct? She's recovering. I sent her home."

"Recovering?" Duo echoed.

Sally nodded.

"After you lost consciousness, your magic had a very strong reaction to the shape shifters. A very strong, very negative reaction. Catharine called me and I came to help."

"What are you?" Duo could feel a hint of magic from Sally, but it wasn't anywhere near as powerful as even Quatre or Hilde.

"I'm a dryad. You've probably realized that I'm not too powerful, but I am very skilled in channeling the magic of others, and I'm a doctor. I've helped the shape shifters in the past, and Catharine thought I could help you."

Duo rolled his shoulders, but aside from feeling sore, the biting pain from last night was gone. Whatever she had done seemed to have worked.

"So my magic rejected theirs. And you came in to save the day."

"Yes." She smiled. "I served as a bridge for their magic to heal you as much as it could, and then I used your servant and the Arbiter's magic to finish the healing process. It took more than I thought, and both of them are a bit drained."

"That was dangerous."

She shrugged. "They seemed to think there was more danger of YOU dying than them, and I was inclined to agree."

"It wasn't that bad."

She gave him a hard look. "I've been treating shape shifters who have been punished by the Council for years. It WAS that bad. Martha told me that their new vampire did this – I've seen her handiwork before, on a male shape shifter who died from his wounds."

Duo winced. He didn't doubt the truth of her words. Meilin truly hadn't known how to wield the whip well, and it was easy to see how she could kill or cripple someone with it.

"I guess I appreciate the help," Duo eventually said. He didn't like being indebted to this stranger anymore than he wanted to have to owe Catharine, Martha, and Ralph for their help, but all in all, he would rather be alive than dead.

"I have confidence that you are worthy of my efforts." She smiled again. "And if nothing else, I got to meet your servant. Her magic is delightful – it reminds me of the old shamans."

"How old are you?" Duo asked.

"Only a few hundred years old, but I was around to meet the native Ephemerals before the Westerners came. Hilde's magic is like theirs – wild and free."

"Yeah, I noticed that." Duo supposed that that was why he was so drawn to her. Like Dryads, Faeries' magic was more elemental than most Old Ones, and came from nature. Hilde's magic seemed to reflect that attitude as well.

"I've arranged to teach her some of the old ways. She doesn't have much training, but I think that her magic tends towards protection."

"Makes sense – she is a cop, after all." Duo didn't know how much he trusted Sally Po to train Hilde, but she felt good, in the same way that both Hilde and Quatre did. And Hilde desperately needed training.

Sally stood. "You should feel some soreness for the next day or so, but in two days you should feel completely recovered, and your magic should be up to its normal levels. Incidentally, your magic isn't very easy to work with."

Duo laughed. "Yeah, I've been told that before."

"I've met Faeries before – Dark Court and Light Court, but you aren't like any of them."

"Well I'm only half Faerie, so that probably explains that."

She nodded thoughtfully. "I hope that next time we meet it can be under different circumstances. I also hope that Catharine's willingness to assist you, even when it meant giving you her magic, will show you that shape shifters can be compassionate."

Duo groaned. "Not another one. Look, lady, I'm sure that Catharine is, like, as amazing as Mother Theresa – but Martha Vendomme? You can't tell me that she did that out of compassion."

"No, obviously not. But she did follow orders from her alpha."

"From her -? Oh fuck, Catharine has seriously organized an illegal pack? Does Quatre know? Does the Council know?" Duo's mind was filled with scenarios for how this could all go terribly wrong.

"Catharine told me to tell you about the pack. No, the Arbiter doesn't know, and as yet the Council is unaware. She wanted you to be aware, and wanted you to know that the lives of some three dozen shape shifters depend on your decision."

Duo shook his head.

"Unbelievable," he muttered.

She smiled.

"I'm sure you will make the right choice."

Duo snorted. The right choice would be to call Heero and hunt down this alpha and kill him – or her. He idly wondered if it was Catharine, but he doubted that she had the power to be an alpha.

"Thanks again for healing me," Duo told her as she left the bedroom.

"I could do nothing less," she assured him and then left.

A few moments later Quatre entered and blushed scarlet when he saw that Duo was naked. Duo smirked at the response.

"C'mon, Quatre, surely I've got the same equipment that you do."

"Right. Um – I just wanted to see how you were."

"I'm sure Sally filled you in on everything. But I'm okay."

"Good, good. I was wondering, could you give me a few tips on how to take care of Mariemaia?"

Duo had completely forgotten about the child vampire.

"Yeah – in fact, let's take this opportunity for me to give you a few tips on a lot of things."

Quatre frowned.

"I'm still not going to apologize for last night. We have to take a stand and protect those weaker than we are."

"Okay, okay, sure, but you need to take the right stand, and you need to be smart about it. Look – we're going to have to agree to disagree about last night, but I'd like to apologize. I've been trying to protect you from some of the Council's darker practices, and if I had just told you about them, maybe last night would have gone down differently."

"I think I'll grab a pen and some paper," Quatre said, and Duo took that to be acceptance of his apology.

They spent the next four hours going over information that Duo thought Quatre should know, about the Council, about the various Old Ones, and any details Duo could remember about specific Council members.

By nightfall, Duo was feeling both exhausted and better – his magic was returning to him, but he was tired from dredging up old memories best forgotten. He finally left when Quatre went in to work, and decided to return to his condo and try and get a decent night's sleep.

As he approached the door to his condo, however, he could feel a disturbance in the wards he had set up. Someone – it felt like an Ephemeral – had tampered with them. He could feel the faint, magical signature of someone still in his apartment. It wasn't anyone Duo had encountered before.

Duo drew one of his silver knives from his boot and held it in his right hand as he cautiously opened his door. It was dark – both the blinds and the curtains had been drawn to shut out all outside light. Duo closed the door behind him, anxious to contain whatever was about to happen so that his neighbors didn't become involved.

As he searched the darkness for any sign of movement, Duo projected a sense of fear and despair towards the other magic he sensed. It was an old trick he had often employed to find his enemies. If he created enough anxiety in their own minds, they would be forced into action.

It didn't take long – his would-be assassin was already on edge, and the panic Duo created in his mind tipped his hand.

The Ephemeral rushed at Duo in the dark, and Duo caught the knife that slashed through the air with his left hand and twisted the arm until the other man cried out and dropped his weapon.

He struggled against Duo's grip, but Duo just sent more waves of fear and pain at the man until he was crying out in pain and writhing in agony in Duo's grip. After a few minutes, Duo eased back on the sensations.

"Who wants me dead?" Duo demanded.

The assassin growled, but refused to answer. Duo could feel him reaching for something at his waist, but he beat him to it and tossed the gun towards the other side of the room.

"Do you even have any clue what you're doing?" Duo had expected someone with Heero's skill set, but this kid – and Duo knew it had to be someone young – was mentally weak, and despite his magical abilities, no match for Duo at all. Then again, Duo assured himself, he was a trained killer himself. And Heero was by far the most deadly human he had ever encountered.

"They just don't make them like they used to," Duo muttered to himself. He slammed the man into the nearest wall.

"Who?" He repeated.

"I don't care – so long as I get paid, it doesn't fucking matter to me," the man assured Duo, and then cried out when Duo slammed him into the wall again.

"Yeah, well, I've got some news to break to you: you AREN'T going to be collecting that five million. So, tell me what you DO know, and I promise to make your death quick."

"Fuck you."

Duo rolled his eyes, even though it was dark and the other man couldn't see him.

"Listen, if you want to be stupid and –"

"I'm not going to tell you anything, you animal."

That did it for Duo. He had encountered this type of racism over the years, from humans, who viewed Faeries as lesser magical beings because, unlike vampires and Ephemerals, they were never human.

Very calmly, Duo snapped the man's neck. He dragged the body with him as he fumbled for a light switch, and when he turned it on he was disappointed to see just how young the assassin had been. Even as an Ephemeral, he couldn't have been more than twenty-one.

It took him a few hours to dispose of the body. Duo and Heero had once compared notes on the best methods for getting rid of unwanted corpses – Duo preferred the traditional and surefire method of burning, but Heero was a fan of acid himself.

In the end, Duo managed to chop up the body into pieces small enough to cram into a large suitcase, and he hauled it downstairs to and into the trunk of a waiting taxi. Duo still wasn't that familiar with Las Vegas, so he directed the driver to take him out to Red Rock.

When they arrived in the desert, Duo asked him to stop and wait before he got out and hauled the suitcase about a hundred yards away from the car. He doused it with a bottle of vodka and then lit it on fire, watching over it long enough to ensure that it would be a clean burn. The screech of tires on asphalt clued him in to the taxi driver abandoning him, and Duo figured that watching a guy burn a suitcase was probably too weird for him to want the fare.

Duo briefly contemplated calling Hilde to come and pick him up, but decided that the woman needed her rest and didn't want to bother her in the middle of the night. So instead he walked ten miles back to civilization before he found another taxi and finally made it home just before dawn.

Exhausted, sweaty, sore, and smelling like burnt plastic, Duo collapsed into his bed without taking off his clothes.

All in all, it wasn't the best weekend he had ever had.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was early afternoon when Duo woke on Monday, and he was disconcerted by the sound of someone pounding on his front door.

He rose from his bed and searched for the gun in his living room. He found it and put it in the back waistband of his pants before approaching the door. He looked through the peephole and saw that Wufei Chang was on the other side of his door.

With a groan, Duo opened the door.

"Good afternoon – to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Duo asked as he gestured him inside.

Wufei scowled at him, and then sniffed the air disdainfully.

"You look terrible and you smell like a car fire."

"Thanks, it's a new thing – thought I'd try to ward off unwanted visitors by being disgusting, but apparently it doesn't work that well." Duo leveled a glare at him. "So, what do you want?"

"Hilde has been missing for the last two hours."

"Missing?" Duo repeated. He hadn't felt any distress from her. He reached out, and he could sense her, but no strong emotions from her. "She seems fine."

"She left to question a Council servant and I haven't heard back from her. I figured that you would be able to find her."

Duo frowned. He didn't necessarily like the idea of Hilde tracking down someone else's servant and trying to question them on her own, but he also trusted her – and their connection.

"Again, she seems fine. Plus, it's hours yet until sundown, so if you're worried about your wife being jealous and –"

Duo wasn't able to finish his sentence before Wufei had an arm at his throat and was shoving him against the same wall that Duo had, just hours before, used to batter an assassin.

"Shut your mouth," Wufei warned him.

Duo pushed Wufei away from him, using his magic to physically shove the Chinese man across the room.

"Remember who you're dealing with, Chang," Duo cautioned him. He was not in the mood to get pushed around by some null after the events of the last seventy-two hours. "And don't you think it would have been nice to mention that your wife was a psychotic vampire at some point to Hilde or Quatre?"

Wufei's scowl was fierce.

"How do you even know?"

"Because she works for the Council! She's an Enforcer for them – she tortures people, and she spent a few hours Saturday night torturing me with a silver whip. And I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and assume that you two never got into the bondage scene, because she sure as shit has no idea what she's doing with a whip. Unless, of course, YOU were the dominant one? But I'm pretty sure you'd be the submissive. Am I right?"

"If Hilde is injured, it's entirely your fault for getting her into this in the first place!" Wufei said, ignoring Duo's comments.

"If Hilde is injured, it's because she was doing her job. She's a cop – just like you – and she takes risks, just like you."

But Duo could admit to himself that he was a little concerned for her welfare. Being his servant made her more of a target than most servants were.

"You don't even care if she dies, do you?" Wufei demanded.

"Obviously I care. She's my human servant – it'd be a real hassle to go and get another one after only a few days with this one."

"You son of a bitch. You're just a monster, just like all the rest of them."

"Oh – like your wife?" Duo responded. He wasn't sure why he was goading the Chinese man, but it felt good to get into this kind of fight.

"You know nothing about Meilin!"

"So what's the story – she becomes a vampire but you stay human… did she have an affair? Did she get bored with you? Why'd she leave you behind? Or did you chicken out? Were you supposed to become a vampire too? I gotta admit, she's pretty hot – I'm impressed you ever managed to get her in the first place."

"Go to hell," Wufei growled before storming out and slamming the door behind him.

Duo shrugged and locked the door. He had been hoping that Wufei would actually tell him how his ex-wife had become a vampire, but getting rid of him so quickly was almost as good.

He took a long shower, taking care to wash his hair and scrub his skin clean of any scent from the fire.

When he got out of the shower he pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt. He had a few hours still before his date with Trowa, and he wanted to clean his condo in case he managed to convince Trowa to come home with him.

Periodically he reached out to find Hilde, but every time she seemed perfectly safe, and after two hours of his probing she finally texted him to tell him that she was fine and to leave her alone.

Which happened to coincide with someone else knocking at his door.

Duo didn't know if he should anticipate an irate Wufei or another assassin, but he figured that a gun would come in handy in either case, so he grabbed it and cautiously stepped towards his door.

It was Heero, and with a relieved sigh, Duo swung the door wide open and ushered in the assassin.

Heero looked approving when he noticed the gun – Duo and Heero had long debated the merits of guns over knives, but, in this case, Duo was willing to concede that a gun could be more useful.

"I heard you had a visitor yesterday," Heero said as he walked in. He didn't even bother to be inconspicuous in his survey of the condo.

"Yeah – some punk kid. Not a big deal."

Heero nodded and, reconnaissance complete, sat down on the couch. Duo closed and locked the door before joining him.

"I… did what I could. You shouldn't have to worry about too many attempts on your life."

Duo arched an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Five million not worth as much as it used to be?"

"Staying alive is worth more than dying for five million," Heero corrected.

Duo frowned.

"I'm not really following."

"I told you I went to visit some friends."

"Yeah, I figured you meant that you went to go and beat up some bankers or criminals or something."

Heero rolled his eyes.

"No, I met with a few of the more competent assassins I know. I convinced them that pursuing this contract was not in their best interests. They and all of THEIR crews will leave you alone. No one but the youngest and dumbest assassins who want to make a name for themselves will come after you. And after you kill a few more of them, not even they will."

"So… how did you convince them to drop this? Did you pay them more?"

Heero started to look uncomfortable.

"A few had heard of you, already, and decided not to pursue the contract."

Duo waited for him to continue.

"I told them that I would personally torture and very painfully kill anyone who managed to actually kill you."

Duo leaned back at the weight of the knowledge.

"Huh. That… must have burned through some of your street cred."

"I have a lot to spare, and they know that I meant it."

"Well, thanks. So… are you in town for a while, then?"

"No, I have a job in Singapore. It'll take me about a week or two."

"Careful, Halloween's coming up." Humans had various celebrations on the day, but for magic users, Halloween or All Saint's Day was the day when the planes of this world and the next were most closely aligned. The spirits from that other plane could be summoned, and could sometimes even interfere with this world. It was a dangerous time because magic was in flux during those twenty-four hours, and truly anything could happen. It wasn't a good time to try and assassinate a magic user.

"I should be done by then," Heero said after a moment's contemplation. "It if takes me longer than a week, I'll wait until after Halloween to finish the job."

"When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"So you've got the night free?" Duo asked with a grin.

"I have to meet someone in an hour, and the meeting will probably take a few hours."

Which could mean anything: Heero might be getting new guns, might be robbing a bank, might be volunteering at an orphanage. He played things so close to the chest that Duo could only make wild, unfounded guesses.

"So…"

"I should be done by midnight."

"Okay, not a problem." Duo shrugged. He would have to cancel his date with Trowa, but seeing Heero this many times in one week, let alone one decade, was a rare opportunity.

"Did you have plans?"

"Nothing I can't cancel."

Heero frowned.

"Work?"

"No, Quatre's decided to keep Monday night's free – and he's feeling guilty about, well, he doesn't want to burn out." Duo did not feel the need to fill in Heero regarding his recent brush with Council punishment. His back was completely healed, and any soreness he felt was insignificant compared to the pain he had expected to be in just two days after the incident.

"A date?" Heero guessed.

Duo shrugged. "I don't mind cancelling it."

Heero frowned.

"Who is it?"

"He's a human. Ah… he's a performer at Chippendales, actually."

They had never talked about it, but Duo was fairly certain – he HOPED – that Heero saw other people during the time they were apart, and he had never made any attempt to hide the fact that he was also involved with other people. When Heero was in town, however, Duo had no problem setting aside any of his other relationships.

"You tend to avoid dating humans," Heero pointed out.

"He's different. Really different."

"You don't have to cancel your date."

"I don't mind. I'd rather spend the time with you. After all, you just convinced a bunch of assassins to NOT try to kill me. Surely you need some kind of reward." Duo winked.

"No," Heero assured him, either missing the joke or ignoring it. "I did what I needed to do."

Duo sighed. "Okay, fine, but I'd still rather spend the time with you."

" You don't have to change your plans. I'll only be here for a few hours, I'll stay at a hotel."

"I want to change them. Look, our relationship is complicated, but it's important –"

"We don't have a relationship," Heero argued, a hard look on his face.

That brought Duo up short.

"So, what would you call the last seventy years?"

"Our paths intersect every few years. I trust you, and I take a certain amount of comfort in your existence. That isn't a relationship. You have relationships."

"And you don't."

"You fulfill a need for me. That's all this is. If I need sex, I look for a partner. Sometimes that's you."

There was a strong level of conviction to Heero's voice that had Duo scowling.

"Right. So you went to the trouble of telling your assassin buddies to leave me alone because… what, sex with me every five years is worth it?"

"Yes." Heero said simply.

Duo clenched his jaw against the words he wanted to shout at the other man. It was hard for Duo to put a label on the feelings he had for Heero – they were very different from what he had felt for Anthony, or what he was starting to feel for Trowa, but they were still very strong feelings, and they involved more than the mere sexual release that Heero was describing.

"Okay, well, you've already gotten your fix, so… I guess I'll see you in five years," Duo finally bit out.

"You've never cared that much about this before," Heero pointed out.

"Yeah, well, maybe it's my recent brush with mortality and the knowledge that someone is trying to kill me –"

"Because that's new."

"- and anyway, you're the one who said that you wanted me alive."

"I do. It's nothing more than that."

Heero's blue eyes were hard and his face was unreadable. Duo finally gave in.

"Fine. Great. Fuck it. Have fun killing things."

Heero stood, but he seemed completely unphased by Duo's anger.

"Please be careful," Heero told him.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, no problem. Wouldn't want all of your effort to go to waste."

Heero looked as though he wanted to say something, but instead he shrugged and left.

Duo glared after him for a long time before he could motivate himself to move.

They had never had anything approaching a traditional friendship or partnership, but Duo had always thought that Heero considered this to be more than just sex. The fact that Heero had gone to such effort to ensure that Duo didn't die seemed to emphasize that. And yet… yet he had just declared that Duo was only sex, and that he didn't think he was worth the effort of actually talking about it.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took Duo too long to decide what to wear, and by the time he had finally put on his clothes, it was nearly seven. He had spent the better part of an hour fighting his anger over Heero's behavior and his own reaction to it, and by the time he had remembered his date with Trowa, he had worked his way into a very dark mental state.

He had finally settled on a light blue button up shirt tucked into a pair of dark, tight jeans. He left the top two buttons undone and put a charcoal vest over the shirt. He buttoned up the vest, and as he did so he reflected on the fact that fashion really did seem to move in circles. Vests hadn't been widely worn in years, and Duo hadn't worn one since the 1930s, but he was grateful they were back in style. He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and added black dress shoes to finish the ensemble.

On a whim, Duo left his hair loose. He wore it in a braid almost religiously, but every once in a while, he liked to let it down. He was also still angry enough that brushing and braiding his hair was more of an effort than not. He decided the effect worked, and he left his condo in a rush to make it across town to the Rio before eight.

The box office attendant gave him a long suffering look when he arrived at five til eight, but she sold him a ticket and Duo's hand was stamped before he was ushered into the dark, bass-throbbing theatre that housed the Chippendales.

Duo knew this could go one of two ways – Trowa could be furious with him for coming to see his show without asking first, or he could accept the fact that Duo really couldn't resist the chance to see him strip in front of an audience. Duo didn't know Trowa well enough yet to know which way the performer would go, but after the last few days, it was a risk Duo was willing to take.

He found a seat at the bar in the back, preferring not to mingle with the masses of women who were already chanting excitedly in the rows of seats or at the café tables. He ordered a whiskey sour and then prepared to watch the show.

As soon as the lights dimmed the women started cheering wildly, and Duo could feel their collective excitement as it moved through the air like a hum of energy. He had met more than a few Ephemerals – and Old Ones – in his time who practiced sex magic, and he wondered if any had ever thought to just sit in the audience of one of these shows. Even Duo, who wasn't particularly in tune with sex magic, could taste their arousal and feel it course through his blood.

The dark stage started to flash with lights, and men wearing sunglasses and trench coats danced in and out of the light. Duo tried to pick out Trowa, but it was too dark, and none of the performers had bangs long enough to cover nearly half their face.

Duo had almost convinced himself that Trowa had made the whole thing up, but then some of the performers started to step forward into shafts of white light. These men had removed their sunglasses and coats and stood in black trousers and were bare chested except for the traditional cuffs and collars that were the Chippendales trademark.

Despite the fact that his hair had been combed back into a faux hawk, Duo recognized Trowa instantly. And he couldn't help the fact that his jaw dropped at the sight of his muscle definition.

Trowa literally looked like he had been sculpted by a Renaissance artist. His light golden skin was stretched across his upper chest and abdominal muscles and there was a sheen to his skin that made it practically glow. Unlike the man standing directing beside Trowa, the tall man's muscles weren't the scary, over-defined sort, but seemed to look like they had been achieved through an athletic lifestyle and NOT through steroids and a life-long dedication to weight lifting.

The men in the spot lights ripped away their pants just as the lights went out, and the women went wild at the brief flash of their toned legs.

Duo rolled his eyes and prepared himself for a very interesting night. He wasn't sure WHAT he had been expecting from the Chippendales, but the show was a strange mix of erotic and camp that had him torn between amusement and arousal for the next eighty minutes.

Trowa was involved in most of the numbers, and by the end Duo couldn't decide if he preferred him stripping out of his firefighter uniform or out of a white tuxedo more.

After the finale, several of the performers remained onstage to sign autographs and take photographs with the audience. Duo noticed that Trowa was not among them.

He paid for his drink and walked through the gift shop. He noticed that most of the performers had merchandise specifically branded with their name, and he found the section that had Trowa's items. He passed on the calendars and birthday cards, but he couldn't resist the coffee mug that said 'I heart Trowa.' The 'T' in his name was in the shape of a bowtie.

Duo paid for his mug and then went into the other bar attached to the theatre. A few more of the performers were already in the bar, mingling with the women from the audience, or relaxing at the bar and chatting with the bar tender.

Duo ordered another drink and decided to wait for Trowa to call him.

"I'll get that," a voice spoke up from behind Duo just as the bar tender handed Duo his whiskey sour.

He turned and recognized one of the performers, a man with short blonde hair, tan skin, and warm, dark eyes that seemed to be laughing at Duo. He had been one of the men who Duo had thought were TOO muscled, and seeing him now, Duo realized that he was actually a little shorter than him, making his body seem even more out of proportion.

"Thanks, but I've got it," Duo said.

The man shrugged and took the open seat beside Duo.

"I'm Chris."

"Duo."

"Did you enjoy the show?"

"Yeah, it was… very entertaining."

Chris chuckled.

"We don't get too many attractive men in the audience."

He had noticed that he was the only man in the audience, attractive or otherwise. He shrugged.

"I've been hearing about you guys for years and I decided to see what all the talk was about."

"And were you impressed?" Chris had on a confident smirk, and he didn't seem to be picking up on the fact that Duo was not interested.

"I was," Duo pulled out his coffee mug. "Think you could introduce me to Trowa? He was something else. Man, his body was incredible."

Chris lost his smirk.

"Trowa? He's okay. Nice guy – but if you're looking for a good time –"

"Hey."

Duo turned at the familiar voice and grinned.

Trowa had changed into a fitted, graphic t shirt and tight jeans. Now that Duo knew what was under those clothes it was hard not to stare. His hair was still in the faux hawk, and it helped to define just how handsome Trowa's face was.

"I was hoping to see you!" Duo said. "Would you sign my coffee mug?"

Trowa looked ready to say something, but he merely smiled and pulled out a sharpie.

"Who do you want me to make it out to?"

"Duo - and if you could add something about love at first sight, or your phone number, that would be amazing."

Chris rolled his eyes in disgust but got up and wandered off. Trowa took his vacated seat.

Duo waited while he scribbled something on the mug before passing it back to him. He put it back in the gift bag without looking at it, deciding that he would enjoy it later.

"Did you like the show?" Trowa didn't sound upset, and in fact Duo could make out a smile around the corners of his mouth.

"I did. I especially liked the parts where you didn't have clothes on."

Trowa chuckled.

"What happened to me calling you after?"

Duo shrugged. "I was going to wait for you to call me before I tried to talk to you."

Trowa rolled his eyes.

He started to say something, but several drunk young girls stumbled up to the bar and started to talk to him, ignoring Duo completely.

Duo watched in amusement as Trowa gave the girls a smirk that was clearly calculated to look sexy and aloof. They practically drooled over him as he signed their calendars and casually flirted with them. It turned out that it was the twenty-first birthday of one of the girls, and Trowa kissed her on the cheek, eliciting a round of excited giggles.

When they finally left to track down another performer, Trowa rose from his seat.

"Ready to go?"

"Sure – you don't have to stay?"

Trowa shook his head.

"We're encouraged to stay for half an hour and mingle – so now I'm a free man."

Duo followed Trowa out of the bar and into the main, open bottom floors of the Rio. It was still loud and crowded, but not quite so bad as it had been in the bar.

"What did you have planned for the evening?" Trowa asked.

"Well, I did have plans to go grab a few drinks and hang out for a bit before casually inviting you back to my place, but now that I've seen you nearly naked it's kind of hard to remember why I didn't want to just skip the drinks and get you in my bed as soon as I can."

Trowa laughed.

"One drink, and then we'll go." His green eyes were warm with amusement and arousal, and Duo enjoyed the growing sexual tension between them. It looked as though his luck was finally starting to turn, and Duo didn't mind waiting for a few more hours and allowing the anticipation to build.

"Did you have anywhere in mind?" Trowa continued.

"No, I was hoping you knew somewhere."

Trowa nodded and started to lead them around the people and towards the center of the Rio.

"Did you see me? How did you know I was there?" Duo asked as they walked.

"I didn't see you at first. Chris noticed some hot guy at the bar in the back and told everyone after the opening number. A few of the other guys had noticed him too, and they started to lay bets on why he was there, and who could take him home. The next time I was onstage I looked and recognized you." A muscle in Trowa's jaw jumped as he swallowed. He didn't speak for a few minutes.

"You were jealous," Duo realized.

"They were talking about you like some drunk audience member they could take home and brag about later." Trowa sighed. "Chris wouldn't shut up about it. Which is another reason we aren't encouraged to bring dates to the shows." Trowa gave him a hard look.

"Sorry, I didn't even realize there would be other gay men in the show."

"A few others, and a few who are bisexual. It isn't often that there are men in the audience, and we never have men who look like you in the audience."

"Like me?" Duo echoed with a grin.

Trowa rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to repeat what was said about you backstage. Besides, we're here."

Duo looked at the incredibly long line of people in front of them.

"Um… I'm sure this place is great, but I do have beer and wine back at my place."

Trowa smirked and started to walk to the front of the line. Duo fell into step behind him. When they reached the front, the bouncer looked up and smiled.

"Hey, Trowa, going up?"

"Yes, and I have a friend with me tonight." Trowa indicated Duo. The bouncer nodded and gestured them towards a dark hallway.

"Have a good time."

"Are you some kind of celebrity?" Duo asked.

"Yes. I'm a Chippendale."

"Right, but that was a really long line –"

"All of the performers – and the crew with the show get in here for free, and we get to skip the line."

"That's pretty cool."

Duo followed Trowa into a glass elevator. A few more people squeezed in with them and the doors shut.

"Turn around," Trowa instructed Duo, who had been facing the doors.

Duo did so just as the elevator started to rise and he grinned at the sight before him. The elevator shaft was on the outside of the Rio, and as the car rose, more and more of Las Vegas was revealed. The neon glittered like jewels in the night, and by the time the car stopped, far above the Strip, Duo could see the entire valley.

"Welcome to the Voodoo Lounge," Trowa said, and gestured for Duo to turn back around.

Duo followed Trowa into a dark club that practically vibrated with the bass of the music. Black lights were everywhere, and the walls, floor, and ceiling were decorated with florescent illustrations that glowed in the light.

The club was crowded, and Trowa grabbed Duo's hand and led him through the crowd and outside.

It was cold, and this far up there was a fair bit of wind, but there was more space, and the glow of the city was beneath them.

"The view is incredible," Duo said.

Trowa nodded.

"It helps put things in perspective."

Duo looked at Trowa and frowned at the slight thread of anger in the other man's voice.

"Look, I'm really sorry about coming to your work. I –"

"I'm not angry about it," Trowa interrupted him. He let out a sigh and shook his head. "But I'm not – who I am onstage, who I was with those girls – that's not me."

Duo gave a theatrical sigh of relief. "Thank god – because when you told that girl that Candy was a perfect name for her because she was so sweet I was seriously rethinking my promise to not try and break up with you again."

Trowa laughed, and Duo found himself smiling in response to the rich sound.

"I'm not very good at flirting. Especially when I don't actually care about the person."

"Well, you sure made her happy. Although you probably could have just sat there and read a phone book and made her night."

Trowa sobered. "I'm not embarrassed about what I do, but it's separate from the rest of my life. It's just my job. I'm not – I'm not just a decent body to be drooled over."

"You aren't a pet," Duo added, suddenly understanding Trowa a lot better.

"Exactly."

"I never thought you were. I'm not interested in you because you have a decent body – and for the record, decent is a ridiculous understatement – and I don't think that's all there is to you. If you don't want me to come and see you here, I understand. But – it was kind of hard to resist the temptation this time."

"You couldn't keep your eyes off me," Trowa observed.

"Ah, no, no I couldn't." Duo flushed and scratched the back of his neck. Duo couldn't help the fact that Trowa's body was as close to physical perfection as any he had ever seen. Nor he could help the fact that he found Trowa's intelligence and sharp sense of humor incredibly attractive.

Trowa smirked.

"So, how about that drink?" Duo asked.

"Sounds good."

They walked up to the outside bar.

"Two Rusty Nails," Trowa ordered before Duo could speak. "I noticed you drinking a whiskey sour earlier – I think you'll like this more."

Duo shrugged and waited for the drinks to be made. Sure enough, he took a sip of the slightly sweet, bitter drink and liked it.

"Good call."

Trowa smirked, and Duo was, once again, impressed by his sense of self-confidence.

"Before I agree to go home with you," Trowa said as he led them to a more secluded area on the patio, "I need to ask a very important question."

Duo prepared himself for the worst, and after his earlier fight with Heero, who KNEW just how wrong this evening could continue to go.

"What was your favorite part of the show?"

Duo chuckled in nervous relief.

"That's a really tough question. I think, after careful reflection, that I liked the scene with you in the white tux."

Trowa groaned.

"I hate that one – the three of us are onstage, basically masturbating!"

"Yeah, I noticed that. Which is part of the reason it was so hot. I mean yeah, a little goofy too, but mostly hot."

Trowa shook his head in despair.

"What? What is your favorite part of the show?" Duo challenged.

"I'm not in it this week, but I like the first audience participation scene. With the three guys – one is the carpenter, one the business man, and the other the rebel."

"Which one are you, usually?"

"The business man."

"Yeah, I can see how you would look amazing in a suit and glasses. Of course, you looked amazing in everything– even those stupid, patriotic boxers."

"They're the worst," Trowa agreed.

"You aren't going to get in trouble over me, are you?" Duo asked as they finished their drinks.

"No. No one knows that I'm dating you – and there is definitely no company policy that discourages us from taking home audience members."

"What about you being gay?"

Trowa shrugged. "It really doesn't matter. The women don't really care – some of them LIKE that, most of them don't know, and of course, there are always those who think that they can turn you straight. Those I don't really care for."

"So, if I take you home does it still count for you to win the bet?"

"I didn't join in."

"Too bad."

Trowa reached out and ran his hand through Duo's hair.

"I like it loose."

"It's a pain in the ass."

"I appreciate the effort."

The look in Duo's eyes told him that Trowa was just as ready to leave the club as he was.

"Ready to go?" He asked, and was rewarded with a sensual smile from Trowa.

"Yeah, if you are."

"Definitely."

They weaved their way through the crowd of people outside, and then inside, and had the elevator to themselves as they rode down.

"You don't have to come back to my place," Duo said, feeling that he should offer Trowa an out just in case he was moving too fast for the human.

"We could go to my place," Trowa agreed, "but your condo is closer. Unless you don't want me to."

"No, no I definitely want you to."

"Good, because now that you've seen me naked, it's only fair that I get to see you."

Duo smirked.

"So you want to come back to my place, have me put on some R. Kelly, strip and then masturbate for you."

Trowa chuckled.

"Not exactly what I had pictured, but I liked the part about going back to your place – and you stripping for me."

They reached the ground, and ceased their banter as they flowed back into the casino traffic. Trowa led them outside and to the parking garage.

Duo got into the passenger side of Trowa's Prius and couldn't help but smirk.

As he drove, Trowa glanced over and noticed the expression.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just – I've never met a human like you before. You're incredible."

"I know," Trowa agreed in a solemn tone, and Duo chuckled.

When they entered Duo's apartment, he had to check and make sure that Heero hadn't returned and planned another ambush, but as soon as he looked around and made sure the apartment was empty, he let Trowa in. He also reinforced his usual wards, making them strong enough to actually repel anyone who tried to break in, instead of just alerting him to the fact.

"Would you mind if I took a shower?" Trowa asked. "I'm covered in body oil and I smell like sweat."

Duo thought Trowa smelled just fine, but he shrugged.

"Sure."

"Sorry, I usually shower after the show, but –"

"But I ruined your plans." Duo felt a pang of guilt.

"No, well, no. I just didn't want to leave you alone in the bar for too long."

"Did you think I was going to go home with someone else?" Duo asked.

Trowa looked very serious for a moment, but he shrugged.

"You said it yourself – I couldn't take my eyes off of you. Trowa, if I hadn't already known you – if I hadn't already been planning on taking you home tonight – I would have seen you for the first time and not been able to think of anything else. I like you for more than your body, but I've got to be honest and say that your body is… amazing."

Trowa held his gaze for a long moment before leaning forward and kissing him. Duo responded instantly, wrapping his arms around the slightly taller man and pulling their bodies together. This close, Trowa DID smell like sweat and coconut body oil, but he still tasted amazing, that same dark, cinnamon flavor and now that was a hint of lemon from the drinks they had had earlier.

When Trowa pulled away, he wore a smirk, and his eyes were hooded with desire.

"I'll show you where the shower is," Duo said, smirking himself.

He led Trowa into the master bedroom and then into the bathroom, showing him where the extra towels were.

"Thank you – I'll just be a few minutes."

"It's fine, I'll just be admiring my souvenir coffee mug."

Trowa rolled his eyes, but went into the bathroom and closed the door behind himself.

Duo went back into the kitchen and pulled the coffee mug out of the gift bag to inspect Trowa's inscription on the mug. In clear, block lettering, Trowa had written:' Careful, may contain hot liquids,' with his name scribbled below in a sloppy, nearly illegible signature. Duo laughed and put the mug in a cabinet.

He was grateful that he had finally taken the time to straighten up the apartment from Heero's visit a few nights ago, because while Hilde had been very easy going about walking into an apartment that looked like it had been robbed, he doubted that Trowa would have been as impressed.

Duo absently flipped through a book on his coffee table. He realized, several pages in, that the book wasn't his. He flipped back to the first page and noticed a note.

'Thought you would enjoy this.' It wasn't signed, but Duo recognized Heero's writing. Duo had once confided his love of science fiction to Heero, and ever since the assassin would periodically give Duo a new book that he had found and thought Duo might enjoy. This book appeared to be new, and was called SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY. It wasn't really science fiction, Duo noticed right away, but it drew him in and before he knew it he was curled up on the couch, twenty pages in.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Duo looked up and saw Trowa coming towards him wearing nothing but a towel wrapped low on his waist. Duo felt mildly guilty that he had become so absorbed in the book so quickly. He also felt a rush of anger towards Heero – sex and books every five years, and that was all this was for the other man. Duo knew that Heero HAD to feel something else, but he doubted that Heero would figure it out any time soon. Duo put down the book and pushed all thoughts of Heero from his mind.

Trowa's hair had clearly been towel dried and it was a bit of a mess, sticking up in a few places, and his long bangs were once again covering the left side of his face. Duo looked him over, and noticed a tattoo on Trowa's right hip. He had noticed it before, when Trowa was onstage, but Duo had been too far away to see any details.

"You have a tattoo."

Trowa shrugged and leaned against the frame of the bedroom door. The angle made the towel slip even lower, and Duo rose and walked over to him. Unable to resist, he reached out and traced the tattoo with one finger.

"It's a lion." It wasn't a very detailed tattoo, just a very crude outline of a lion in dark blue ink. It looked old and slightly faded. Duo wondered how long Trowa had had it.

"Yes." Trowa's voice was very neutral, and Duo thought it was an odd reaction.

"Do you…like lions?"

"I admire them. I don't particularly care for the tattoo."

"So then why did you get it?"

"I was young and stupid."

"You could get it removed."

Trowa shrugged. "Tattoos are pretty popular among the cast at Chippendales. It helps to break up the body, and the fans like to learn about the story behind them."

"And your story is that you were young and stupid and you hate it."

Trowa rolled his eyes. "No, my story for them is that I love nature and I think that the lion is the king of the jungle and I admire his strength and agility."

Duo managed to keep a straight face for all of two seconds before he laughed.

"That's such bullshit."

"The lion is the king of the jungle," Trowa insisted, but then he grinned. "The girls love it. They hear lion and somehow they end up picturing me cuddling with a kitten or something."

"Hmm." Duo ran his finger below the tattoo and around the edge of the towel. "I had a different picture in my mind."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, it didn't involve this, either," Duo said and gave the towel a tug. It fell down and revealed Trowa's completely naked body to Duo's greedy eyes. He saw that Trowa was already half-aroused, and even now his erection was an impressive size. Duo licked his lips unconsciously, and Trowa groaned before pulling him against his naked body and kissing him again.

Duo walked them backwards even as Trowa started to unbutton his vest and then his shirt. They reached the bed, and Duo stepped back to pull off the vest and shirt before grabbing Trowa again and running his hands over his amazingly warm and firm skin. It felt like there was a fire beneath Trowa's skin, he was so warm, and Duo just wanted to bury himself in all that warmth.

Trowa's hands were running over Duo's back, and when his hands ghosted over Duo's scars he stopped and pulled away.

Duo let him, even though he instantly missed the feel of Trowa's body against his own.

"What happened to your back?"

Duo sighed, but turned around so that Trowa could see. In his experience, it was better to let someone see the scars before he explained – that way they were already prepared for the horror story.

"This wasn't recent." There was a sense of relief to Trowa's voice that Duo hadn't expected.

"No, these are almost six hundred years old."

Duo started to turn back around, but then he felt Trowa trace over the scars, following them from his shoulders down to the small of his back where they disappeared beneath his jeans.

"What did this? Who did this?"

Duo did turn around then, because he needed to see what Trowa's reaction was.

Even half hidden, Trowa's face was surprisingly easy to read in this moment. He was angry. Not disgusted, not filled with pity, but actually angry. There was a simmer of rage in his green eyes that surprised Duo.

He sat down on the bed, and a moment later Trowa sat down beside him, completely unconcerned with being naked while Duo was still half clothed.

Duo forced himself to look at Trowa's face as he explained the history of his scarred back.

"When I was younger, I worked with a group of Ephemerals who hunted down magic users who harmed humans. Originally, we were an order in the Catholic Church, a brotherhood. By the early 1500s, the Inquisition was in full swing, and it was becoming harder and harder to avoid persecution from the very people we were trying to protect, so we broke away from the Church. However, within a few years, WE became the hunted. We had the Inquisition after us on one side, and the Old Council on the other. Before, we had always been able to avoid run-ins with the Council because we could take sanctuary in churches, but without that sacred ground to protect us, it became easier for the Council to hunt us down. There were nine of us, to start, and by the end there were only two of us. The Council caught up with us near Calais, and we were taken to Paris to face judgment."

Duo noticed that Trowa seemed to be listening attentively, and so he continued, rushing through the next part as quickly as he could before he let himself think too much about it.

"The two of us left – myself and Solo – had been the leaders of our group, and we had been the ones that the Council wanted to make an example of. Solo was an Ephemeral – the most powerful Ephemeral I've ever encountered, but he was still just human. They tortured us for days, until they broke me. I told them I would do anything if they would just leave Solo alone. It was what they had been waiting for all along. I'm something of an oddity in the magical community. I told you that I was half Dark Court Faerie, but the other part of me – no one quite knows what I am. All that I know is that vampires think I taste really, really good. I was passed around between Council members for a while, and I figured that was going to be the rest of my life – they would treat me like some toy until they got bored, or I ran out of blood, and then they would kill me. But then I learned that they had killed Solo. I went a little crazy at that point. I killed three Council members – a vampire, a Light Court Faerie, and a shape shifter. I killed them with my bare hands, I was so furious about Solo, about their betrayal. I'd always hated the Council, as soon as I learned who they were, but at the very least, I thought that they acted with honor."

Trowa was still following the story, and now that he had gotten past Solo's death, the telling became easier for Duo.

"They wrapped me in silver chains and left me like that for five years before they brought me before the Head of the Council. Jason was, ah –"

"Jason? That isn't a very ancient name."

"No?" Duo shrugged. "He's more than three thousand years old, so…"

"Jason. The Greek hero Jason?"

"That'd be him. Anyway, Jason found me amusing, so he didn't want to kill me outright, and like I said, the vampires enjoyed the way I tasted. He's a vampire, too, by the way. He wasn't always, but after Medea sort of wrecked his world, he fell in with a bad crowd and was bitten. Jason decided that I was too intriguing to merely kill, so he decided to discipline me until I agreed to follow his commands. At the time, the Council Executioner was Gelanor. Um – by Executioner, I mean the man who carried out the punishments the Council decreed. Sometimes that was death, but most of the time it was torture. Anyway, Gelanor had a truly amazing collection of whips that he used to punish his victims. I'm talking the Louvre of torture devices. But his absolute favorite was a whip that a Dark Court Faerie had once forged. The whip was pure silver – the handle was solid silver, and out of the top came three separate silver cords, each about nine feet long. And at the end of those cords were silver scythes. He called the thing Deathscythe, and he reserved it for very special occasions. Not only was it entirely silver, but the thing is wrapped in so many layers of dark magic that just LOOKING at it can give you nightmares."

Duo shrugged.

"Long story short, I got the pleasure of suffering one hundred lashes from the thing before I agreed to follow the commands of the Council. And that's where I got the scars from."

"Silver scars Faeries? I thought it only scarred vampires."

"No, you're right about that. Silver burns like acid when it touches my skin, but it won't scar me. No, it was the magic – the very, very dark magic of this whip that made the scars on my back."

"What happened – after?"

"Well, I tried to destroy the whip, and when I failed at that, I tried to kill Gelanor – my plan was actually to kill us both and try to melt down as many of his damn whips as I could, but I failed, spectacularly, and as punishment Gelanor took me on as his apprentice, and eventually I became the Executioner for the Old Council. And then I moved to the States, and was their Executioner until I left the magical world, about a hundred years ago. And that is my life story."

An extremely edited version, but still more than Duo had told anyone else. Not even Anthony had known this much about him, and it bothered Duo that he had explained so much to Trowa.

"What happened to the whip – Deathscythe?"

"I inherited that with the job. I left it behind, though, when I walked away from this world." Duo frowned and wondered if Treize still had it. He wondered if he had had Meilin use it on anyone, and he shuddered at the possibility.

"Well, that was kind of a mood killer," Duo joked weakly. He drew his knees up and rested his chin on them. He was impressed that Trowa hadn't run screaming in the middle of the story, but he also didn't know just how the other man was taking all of this.

"You've had a hard life."

"It's getting better."

Trowa gave him a patronizing look.

"No, really. In fact, I just met this amazing guy, and he kind of makes me forget about all of the things that have happened to me." Duo grinned and crawled over to Trowa, forcing the other man to lay back on the bed as he crawled over his body.

"I fail to see how it's possible for you to forget what's happened to you just by watching me take off my clothes."

"No, that isn't what I was talking about."

"Oh? Is this some other guy?" Trowa sounded amused, but there was also a warning tone to his voice.

"No, it's you, but it's not your incredible body that makes me forget. It's that right there – your smirk. Damn, I love it when you smirk like that." Duo leaned down and kissed Trowa. The other man responded instantly, his tongue meeting Duo's and dueling for control of the kiss.

Duo ground his hips against Trowa's. The other man growled into his mouth and flipped them over, straddling Duo's hips and looking down at him with a hungry, predatory expression.

"You are beautiful," Trowa said, and there was a gravity to his voice that made Duo shiver. Trowa's green gaze seemed to stare right into his soul, and Duo couldn't shake the feeling that Trowa really could see that far into him – that he was looking past his body, looking past his history, and seeing HIM.

Trowa continued to hold his gaze as he ran his hands down Duo's chest, raking his flesh with short nails. Trowa stopped when he reached the waistband of Duo's jeans and started to undo his belt. He pulled it free and then undid the fly of the jeans before pulling them and Duo's boxers down in one swift motion. Duo kicked the clothes off of his feet and forced himself to remain still as Trowa looked him over.

By no means did Duo's body approach the level of perfection that Trowa's did, even without his scars, but Duo believed himself to be fairly good looking, and from the satisfied smirk on Trowa's face the other man agreed with his self-assessment.

Trowa kissed him again and Duo cradled the back of his skull, holding him against him and wishing that he could keep the taste of Trowa in his mouth always.

Their erections brushed together and both men groaned and arched into each other, craving more friction. Duo reached between their bodies and latched onto Trowa's erection, stroking the other man firmly until Trowa started to thrust against him involuntarily.

"I want to be inside of you," Trowa groaned into Duo's ear.

"Yes," Duo moaned in agreement. He released Trowa and twisted onto his side and reached for the lube and the condoms he had placed in his nightstand earlier that day. As he did so, Trowa moved down his body and licked Duo's erection.

"Oh fuck that feels good," Duo moaned when Trowa took him into his mouth.

He let Trowa suck him for a few minutes, but when he started to get close to orgasm, Duo made him stop.

"I want you in me when I come," Duo explained when he pushed Trowa away.

Trowa kissed him, and Duo could taste his own precum mixed with cinnamon. Trowa took the lube from Duo and coated two fingers with it before teasing at Duo's entrance, gently working his fingers into the tight ring of muscle and then pushing deep into him.

"I'm ready," Duo assured the other man when Trowa pulled back to look at him.

Trowa's smirk was back as he rolled the condom down his erection and then guided it into Duo very slowly, until every inch of his length was buried inside him.

"You feel incredible," Trowa groaned, his voice slightly hoarse as he held himself still.

"For fuck's sake please start to move or I'm going to kill you," Duo replied.

Trowa laughed even as he complied with Duo's demand, pulling almost completely out before thrusting back in. They groaned in unison at the sensation.

Duo was a little alarmed by how serious Trowa looked as he pumped into him, but when the other man started to stroke Duo in rhythm to his own motion Duo stopped thinking about anything else but the feel of the other man moving inside of him and working his erection.

"Come with me," Trowa encouraged Duo. "I'm so close."

"Me too," Duo groaned, feeling the pressure start to build.

And suddenly there was an explosion of light and energy so intense that Duo nearly blacked out. He could FEEL Trowa's orgasm as he felt his own, and the pleasure was like nothing Duo had ever experienced. But it was more than that, Duo could taste Trowa, even though they weren't kissing, he could feel the other man's wildly erratic heartbeat, and he could sense EVERYTHING. It felt as though a cloud of magic surrounded them. It wasn't the normal, dark hue of Duo's own magic, but something rich and golden and very, very warm.

Trowa had stopped moving, and the look on his face told Duo that he was feeling EXACTLY what Duo was feeling, and that it alarmed him as much as it alarmed Duo.

"What the hell was that?"


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

 

Chapter Six

Trowa looked pale and shaken – and Duo was fairly certain that he looked the same. It didn't help that his heart was still beating wildly or that his skin was tingling from the magic in the air. It also didn't help that he felt an amazing sense of euphoria that just wasn't normal. Duo didn't do euphoric.

They shifted away from each other as if by mutual, unspoken agreement and Trowa rose from the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

Duo listened to the sound of water running, and when Trowa came back out a moment later his face was wet.

"I have no idea what that was," Trowa muttered after drawing in a deep breath. He remained standing by the door, and Duo appreciated having space between them. Especially considering that his fingers were practically itching to feel Trowa's skin again, and that the scent of the other man was still in his nostrils.

"So… that isn't something that happens every time you have sex?" Duo asked hopefully.

"No, no, that's never happened before. That's not something that you do?" Trowa's equilibrium regarding the world of magic appeared to be shaken.

"Um, no. My magic is never golden and happy and…euphoric." Duo tried to rack his brain for WHAT could have just happened, but he couldn't think of anything in his past.

He usually avoided entanglements with nulls like Trowa, but he had been involved with a few over the years, but had never experienced anything quite like this. But Trowa wasn't strictly speaking a null, Duo suddenly remembered.

"You said that you had Gypsy ancestors," Duo reminded Trowa.

"Yes – no fucking way." Trowa went completely pale and Duo could taste the sudden rush of panic and dread he felt as though they were his own.

"What?" He asked, trying to keep his own rising panic hidden.

"I thought it was a myth. It – this cannot be happening." Trowa ran a hand through his hair and groaned.

"Okay, whatever happened just now let's me feel what you feel, but it doesn't let me know what you're thinking so, please – what?"

Trowa looked at him and then shook his head. He leaned back against the wall and sank down until he was sitting on the carpet, his knees drawn up to his chest. It was a very defensive posture, and Duo was really worried now.

"There's an old story, in my family. I'd…completely forgotten about it. I never really believed it. We can trace our lineage back to the oldest Romani – Gypsies – and there's a story, a myth, about a family curse."

A Gypsy Curse. Duo did not like the sound of this.

"There was a woman, the daughter of the first Rom Baro – a leader – and she was very beautiful and very powerful. She was betrothed to another Romani, who, because the Rom Baro had no sons, but only two daughters, would become the next Rom Baro after the father died. The woman loved this man, and she knew they would be happy together, but on the eve of their wedding she went to the forest to gather flowers for the ceremony. While she was there a strange man approached her and he sang a strange, haunting melody. She was enchanted by the song, and when he finished, he kissed her. The woman instantly fell in love with this stranger, and he asked her to run away with him. But she knew that her father wanted her to marry the Romani man, and that that man was her first love. So, instead of marrying the Romani or running away with the stranger, she went to the oldest, wisest woman in her tribe and asked for her advice. The wise woman told her to follow tradition, to marry the Romani, and to honor her people and her father, but the woman still wasn't sure. She asked the wise woman to cast a spell that would tell her which man was her soul mate, and, reluctantly, the wise woman did so. It turned out that it was the stranger, and not the Romani. So, the woman told her father and the Romani man that she couldn't marry him, and that she would marry the stranger instead. But, this stranger, he wasn't Romani, he wasn't pure, and if the woman married him, she would be turning her back on her entire race, and she would never be able to return to them. The Romani man was so upset to have lost the love of his life that he cursed her and her descendents. The curse should have doomed her and her children to living lives without love, but the wise woman stepped in and changed the curse, so that instead, the woman and her descendents would be forever bound to their soul mate."

"Um..." Duo tried to process the story. "Are you saying that we're Soul Mates?"

"I… yes?" Trowa looked incredibly depressed about the idea.

Duo frowned. If the curse was to bond two souls together, then it would require the traditional magical sacrifices – blood, body, and magic. Cleary they had already taken care of the body and magic parts, but they hadn't shared blood.

"Trowa, traditionally magical bonds require three things – magic, body, and blood. We just shared magic and our bodies, obviously, but we didn't share blood. So – if this is some curse to be bound to your each other, we aren't stuck with each other yet. Not until we take that final step."

It was not a step that Duo had any interest in taking. He had seen soul mates before, and he shuddered at his memories. He remembered two Ephemerals captured during the Inquisition. The woman had been sentenced to burn at the stake, but the man, as her accomplice, had been spared death and instead nearly crippled by torture. The day that she had been burned, the man had been in the crowds watching, and as the fire started to lick her skin and clothes, he had screamed with her, as though her pain was his own, and started to claw at his skin. He had been driven mad by her pain and her death, and a few days later had killed himself.

A bond between soul mates was stronger and more invasive than the bond between a servant and master. It literally brought your souls closer together. Thoughts, emotions, magic – everything was shared and magnified by the connection, and it only grew more powerful over time. But those were the unions between two magic users.

Trowa was just a human – there was no way the bond would become that strong, and the fact was that in a hundred years – at the most, if Duo's magic increased his lifespan – Trowa would be dead.

"Plus," Duo had to carefully think of how to say that without pointing out that, for him, this wasn't going to last the rest of his life, "you're human, so the bond shouldn't be that strong."

"Did you feel what just happened?" Trowa asked. "Did that feel not that strong?"

"Well, no, that was pretty incredible." Which made all of this even more strange. Where had that magic come from?

"But as long as we don't share blood – it won't be complete, right?" Trowa repeated Duo's words.

Duo smirked. "What, you don't want to spend the rest of your life worshipping me?" He was angling to lighten the atmosphere – Trowa still looked ready to go kill himself over the prospect of having Duo as a soul mate, and Duo was trying very hard to bury his own feelings about the idea. The reality was, it was done – they had bonded half-way, and there was no taking that back.

Trowa drew in a deep breath and seemed to make a conscious decision to accept the situation.

Trowa arched an eyebrow. "Me worship you? I'm pretty sure it would be the other way around."

"We could take turns," Duo suggested.

Trowa shook his head ruefully. "I really didn't anticipate this happening. I, ah, kind of wanted to keep this relationship pretty casual."

Duo laughed. "Yeah, I think we sailed right past casual. Um, I don't have any experience with this type of magic, but, even though the bond isn't complete, I'm pretty sure that we're going to still WANT to be together. So… if you really want to avoid having to deal with this magic, the best thing to do would be to put some distance between us."

"So, I can move to Spain, learn to speak Spanish, and spend the rest of my life feeling lost and alone, or I can stay here and keep having the most amazing sex of my life with my soul mate."

"Yeah, I think those are pretty much the only two options."

Trowa cocked his head to one side and pretended to consider.

"I don't know. That's kind of tough."

"Do you need some help making up your mind?" Duo asked.

"I could use some convincing, yeah."

Duo chuckled and rolled off the bed to join Trowa on the floor. He pulled the other man up to his feet and pushed him back against the wall before aligning their bodies.

And even that – just the touch of their skin together – sent sparks of pleasure all through Duo's body. Trowa shivered as he experienced the same sensation.

Duo kissed him, and the taste and scent cinnamon seemed to explode in his mouth. He wondered, briefly, how he tasted to Trowa.

"Reached a decision yet?" Duo asked as he pulled away from the kiss. The physical sensations he felt were a combination of his and Trowa's, and the building passion between them seemed to be fueling that strange, golden magic that still cocooned them.

"I'm getting there," Trowa assured him before bringing their mouths back together.

 

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When Duo woke the next morning he learned two things – the first being that Trowa was a cuddler, and in the middle of the night had wrapped his arm around Duo's chest and his leg over Duo's hips and had pulled Duo into the curve of his body. The second was that Trowa was hot. It felt like Duo was wrapped in a heating blanket. His body tended to run a little colder than a normal human body, so he usually liked to sleep under a few layers of blankets at night, but this – this was way beyond that. It was as if Trowa was running a fever, his skin was so hot.

It took some effort, but Duo eventually managed to disentangle himself from Trowa's grip. He watched in amusement as Trowa rolled over into the spot where Duo had previously been, still deep asleep.

Duo took a long shower, enjoying the feel of the hot water on his still sore back, and used the time to figure out just what he was going to do now. He had a human servant to look after, the Arbiter to keep safe from his own foolish ideals, a Soul Mate to deal with, and an assassin who wouldn't admit that he wanted Duo for more than just sex. And, of course, someone still wanted him dead, even if he was having trouble hiring anyone to do the job.

"This is why I don't like magic," he muttered to himself as he dried his hair. Those blissful, nine days in Montana seemed like centuries ago instead of barely two weeks.

Last night he hadn't wanted to dwell on the idea of Trowa Barton being his soul mate, but now that the human was asleep in Duo's bed, he allowed himself the luxury of a minor freak out in the bathroom.

In some ways – it really didn't matter, because, as Duo had told himself last night, the longest this could last was one hundred years, and then Trowa would be dead. Trowa had mentioned last night that he had wanted to keep their relationship casual, and Duo had really had dreams of the same.

Returning to the magical world had dredged up too many memories for him, of Anthony and Solo, and many, many others in between, and he did NOT want to add Trowa Barton to the list of men that he had desperately loved and then been powerless to save. He didn't even want to add Trowa to the list of men he loved. Ever since Anthony's death, Duo had been very careful to keep his relationships with others more physical than emotional. Heero, of course, had become the exception to that, and Gavi had almost been the exception, until Duo had killed him.

He did not want or need the complication of feeling anything more for Trowa than mild affection and attraction. He had wanted a lover – someone that he could spend time with and forget about the chaos and despair of the magical world. He had not wanted someone that he would be saddled with for the next century.

With a groan, Duo forced himself to calm down. As usual, it didn't matter what he wanted or what he had planned, destiny had, once again, decided to fuck it all up.

When Trowa woke up an hour later, Duo was on the couch reading Heero's book and had managed to bury his irritation at life enough to try to relax. Trowa hadn't bothered to put on his clothes yet, but wandered out, completely naked and adorably sleep-tousled.

"Morning," he said, sounding a little uneasy.

"Hi," Duo smiled at him. He was pissed at the universe – but not necessarily at Trowa. It wasn't as if the human had planned this, or wanted it anymore than Duo did. There was no reason to punish him for it.

It looked like Trowa was going through a similar morning-after freak out to what Duo had earlier experienced. His face was set in the neutral expression that Duo already knew meant he was uneasy about something and didn't want to talk about it directly.

"Remember, it's really great sex…" Duo said.

"I'm pretty sure the sex would have been great without it," Trowa groused.

"Probably. I am amazing in bed."

Trowa rolled his eyes, but the hint of a smile tugged at his lips.

"Would you like some breakfast? I've got fruit, or I could make an omelet?" Duo asked.

"What kind of fruit?"

"Um…" Duo got up and rifled through the fridge. "Bananas, an orange, peaches – or nectarines, I never remember which is which."

"A banana would be nice," Trowa said. He leaned against the kitchen counter, and Duo found it interesting – and sexy – that Trowas was so comfortable being naked.

Duo passed him the fruit and grabbed one of the peach-nectarine's for himself. He took a bite into the juicy fruit and discovered that it was a nectarine.

"So, do you have any plans tomorrow?" Duo asked Trowa.

"I have work at night, but my day is free."

"Feel like grabbing lunch and seeing a movie?"

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"That sounds… very normal."

"Hey – you said you wanted this to be casual, and I'd like the same. I don't see any reason why us being Soul Mates has to change that."

"I'd like that," Trowa said after a moment. "I could come by and pick you up around noon?"

"Sounds great." Duo jumped up on the counter and watched the methodical way that Trowa peeled his banana and broke off portions to eat.

"Do you have any plans for Thursday night?" Trowa asked him.

Duo frowned slightly. "No, but it's Halloween, I should keep the night open in case something crazy happens."

"Something crazy?"

"Yeah – my job. I guess I should probably tell you, since, well, anyway. Your buddy Quatre is the liaison between the American Council, the body that governs magic users, and the United States government. I'm his advisor. And Halloween is one of those times when magic tends to go a bit crazy."

It was also one of the darkest and most depressing nights of the year for Duo, and one that he had actually enjoyed spending alone, drunk out of his mind, for the past century.

"There's a big party at Chippendales," Trowa explained his earlier question, "we usually bring our dates and hang out after the last show of the night." He shrugged. "But your crazy magical stuff sounds like more fun."

Duo let out a bitter laugh.

"Yeah, well…"

As Trowa threw away his banana peel, he walked close to Duo and kissed him.

"I enjoyed last night. Even with the family curse issue."

Duo kissed him back.

"Me too. We should do it again sometime."

"What? Discover that one of us has a magical curse on us?"

"No, not so much that part."

Trowa smirked and kissed him again. Duo dropped the rest of his nectarine on the counter and wrapped his arms around the warm, naked skin of the other man and pulled him close.

"I should get going, I need to go to the gym today," Trowa said after a few minutes of intense kissing.

"Yeah, but the gym isn't going anywhere, and I think you're already forgetting just how awesome the sex is," Duo argued as he jumped down from the counter and pulled off his t-shirt.

"Hard to forget that," Trowa murmured, but he tugged on the waistband of Duo's sweatpants. "Still, it probably wouldn't hurt to be reminded one more time."

"Probably not," Duo agreed.

 

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It was mid afternoon when Duo's cell phone rang and interrupted his return to reading Heero's book.

He checked the caller ID and saw that it was Quatre.

"What's up?" He asked the blonde.

"A friend of yours is at my office –"

"Why are YOU at your office?" Duo demanded.

"It's already four, and – "

"Quatre, seriously, this is about style. You can't keep the same hours that a normal human would."

"Okay, okay fine. Listen, a friend of yours is here and it sounds like Hilde is in trouble."

Duo cursed. He reached out across their connection, a connection that he had taken extreme precautions to block off last night and this morning, and could feel Hilde. She was furious, but didn't seem to be in any fear or pain.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes – twenty tops," he told the blonde before hanging up the phone.

Traffic was lighter than Duo had anticipated – he found it ironic that fate would saddle him with so many serious issues, but be so generous about getting stuck in traffic – and he made it to Quatre's office in ten minutes. He burst into his office and immediately felt like an idiot.

Wufei, Hilde, and Quatre all looked up at him with expressions that ranged from relieved to irritated.

Zechs Merquise, perched on Quatre's couch as though he were on a marble throne, merely looked amused.

"Since when are we friends?" Duo asked.

Zechs smirked. "I've always felt…friendly towards you, Duo."

"Remind me never to be around you when you're feeling unfriendly, then," Duo muttered before turning to Quatre. "What's going on?"

"It seems that you lost something," Zechs spoke up, as though the question were directed at him, "I merely decided to return it to you."

"Uh…thanks?" Duo frowned when Zechs didn't hand over whatever it was. "What did I lose?" He asked eventually.

Zechs looked over at Hilde, who sneered in response.

"Your servant," Zechs answered.

"Oh, did I? And just where did I lose her?" Duo asked. He leaned against the corner of Quatre's desk that was closest to where Hilde sat.

"She was questioning my human servant about some string of murders committed by an Ephemeral. She claims that it was on your orders."

"It was," Duo assured him while making a mental note to have very strong words with once Zechs was gone.

"Really? I didn't realize that you cared about human criminal investigations. In fact, I'm fairly confident that you haven't assisted in a human criminal investigation since the Inquisition reached Spain."

"Things change," Duo pointed out. "And this particular crime…reminded me of an old friend."

Zechs arched an eyebrow. "I didn't realize you had any of those still alive."

"Well, there's you," Duo shot back with a toothy grin. "Anyway, thanks for brining her back."

"You should take better care of your things, Duo, you have always been careless. And you know how the Council feels about your servants."

Duo's jaw clenched at the implication, but he nodded sharply.

"A word of advice – friend to friend," Duo said, "things have changed in this country, and the Council doesn't get to decide the way it wants to do things anymore. There are laws, and you are all bound to follow them. Furthermore, any criminal investigation involving magic or magic users requires the full cooperation of the Council. Which means you, and your servant."

"But my servant isn't on the Council."

"Sure, but you didn't sign the new contract between a servant and master – which means that, legally, your servant doesn't have autonomy and is, by law, considered to be the same entity as you. Hilde can question your servant – and any of their servants – as much as she wants."

Zechs' handsome face looked very strained. He stood stiffly.

"Very well. Treize also wanted me to pass on his invitation to attend the Summoning tomorrow evening."

Duo frowned. He had not anticipated that.

"Me?" He repeated.

Zechs smirked.

"You are one of us, as much as you and we would like it to be otherwise."

"I – thank you." Duo didn't know how else to respond to the invitation.

Zechs nodded to Quatre.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Arbiter," he said and then left.

"This is your fault!" Wufei exploded as soon as the door closed. He stood and advanced on Duo.

"Oh, for the love of – what is my fault?" Duo demanded. He took the seat that Zechs had vacated, determined to be comfortable if he was about to listen to the Chinese null's rant.

"She could have been killed by those monsters!"

"She is in the room," Hilde broke in immediately, her voice frigid.

Wufei spared her a glare.

"And she needs to remember who her superior officers are," Wufei said tightly.

"I did nothing wrong! I'm assigned to this investigation, so I investigated! I don't need you – or anyone – to hold my hand!"

Quatre sighed.

"I think we all need to calm down," the blonde man said. "It's been a challenging few days, and we are all tense. Let's just – please, try to be rational. Hilde, what information were you able to get?"

She smirked. "Quite a lot. I spoke with Margaret – Sylvia's servant, and with Alex, who is Lucrezia Noin's servant, and with Mueller, who is Zechs' servant."

Duo was actually impressed. Those were three very well placed Council members.

"And?" He asked.

"The Council is worried about the serial killer. Apparently, the two scenes we've seen aren't the only ones – this has been going on for almost two years, but they've been keeping it quiet while the legislation legalizing magic was going through Congress."

"Two years? How many victims?" Wufei had temporarily set aside his anger and seemed to remember what his job was.

"Twelve women. It's not a huge amount, considering the other crime in the area, but the Council has been concerned with the magic used to make the ritual, and with the fact that it seems like the Ephemeral is getting stronger. The last two cases – the ones that we found – they let us find. They called the police."

"They – how did they know?" Quatre asked.

"They felt the magic. Apparently, whoever this is is seriously powerful and puts out quite a bit of energy when he casts the circle."

"So – that first case when I got here – the ritual hadn't been finished," Duo pointed out.

"Mueller told me that the Council detected the magic being expended immediately because of them was actually at the location. It was a huge coincidence, and that's the only reason the ritual was interrupted."

"Why didn't they do anything about it?" Duo wondered. "If the Council is so concerned about some vigilante – " he trailed off.

"What?" Wufei demanded.

"Well, if they didn't do anything, it's probably because they couldn't. This Ephemeral is powerful enough that the Council can sense whenever she – or he – puts up a ritual circle. So why haven't they ever tracked her down? Because they're afraid of this Ephemeral."

"Unless they know who it is and can't do anything about it," Hilde suggested. "Alex seemed to imply that Noin, at least, knew the Ephemeral."

"We have to question her," Wufei said.

"You can't," Duo pointed out. "Only the Arbiter could question the second most powerful Council member. She would never agree to a null interrogating her, and she's just going to lie."

"The law – "

"Doesn't matter to them," Duo wearily interrupted. "When's the next Council meeting?" Duo directed the question to Quatre.

"Two weeks."

"Two – more women could be dead by then!" Wufei shouted.

"I can try to question more human servants," Hilde said.

"No," Wufei barked.

"What do you mean, no? I have every right to –"

"I think we should take this opportunity to talk about Wufei's wife, the psychotic vampire who almost crippled me," Duo broke in.

Wufei turned a furious glare to him.

"It's something we need to know," Quatre added, when Wufei started to protest.

Wufei looked ready to explode, but he took several calming breaths before speaking in a flat, emotionless voice.

"Three years ago my wife decided to become a vampire. We had just lost our child – our son, he died a month after his birth. He had a heart murmur. Meilin was devastated. She started going to a support group, and she met a vampire who offered her the chance to avoid having to die. Meilin wanted both of us to… convert, is what she called it. She didn't want to have to lose me, she said, and she didn't want to think about death anymore. I refused to do it. She left me and she became a vampire. That's all there IS to the story, if you're satisfied?" He looked up at Duo and sneered.

Duo shrugged one shoulder. "I'd like to know who her maker is – do you know?"

"You already mentioned her – Lucrezia Noin."

Which explained a lot to Duo. Noin had always taken a role in Council punishments, and it made sense that HER vampires would be the enforcers of Council law.

"I'm so sorry, Wufei," Hilde said. She reached out to him, but he jerked away from her. She flinched.

"I don't need your pity. I need you to follow orders, and to do your job. Which isn't to take needless risks to get us no useful information. Stop dabbling in this bullshit magic and remember that you're a cop." With that, Wufei stormed from the office.

Quatre looked a bit shell shocked, and even though Hilde's face was neutral, Duo could feel her pain. He sighed.

"Listen, Quatre, I need to talk to Hilde about a few things – d'you mind if I catch you up in a bit?"

"Okay." Quatre frowned slightly. "But, before I forget, what's a Summoning?"

Duo shrugged uneasily. "It's a kind of ritual. Council thing."

"Are you going?"

"I… it would be rude not too."

"Then you should go. If you can make amends with the Council, you should – it would be in everyone's best interests."

"Yeah, don't get overly optimistic there," Duo warned him.

He looked at Hilde and then jerked his head towards the door.

"Let's go grab dinner," he told her.

Duo was very proud of the fact that he waited until they were halfway through their meal at Hilde's favorite dive bar before he started to dress her down.

"You are my human servant. You want to be independent, that's fine, but let's get one thing straight – fundamentally, you belong to me. Everything you do reflects on me, and everything you DON'T do reflects on me."

She started to interrupt, but Duo held up a hand to forestall her comments.

"You don't get to argue with me about this. What you did was completely idiotic. You're a cop – you should have taken backup, or at least told me what you were going to do. The Council don't pick their human servants because they're nice and cuddly, they pick them because they are scary bastards. Don't ever throw around my name again like that – not unless you've actually asked me if you can. Zechs had every right to kill you – and the fact that Treize knows you were questioning human servants just makes it worse."

"Why didn't you just gang up with Wufei back at the office?" Hilde demanded sulkily.

"Because he's an arrogant asshole and this is between you and me. Part of my job is to protect you – from dying, and from getting yelled at by an idiot."

"He's not an idiot."

"Please stop defending him. He's –"

"His wife left him to become a vampire!"

Duo rolled his eyes. "He is so not worth your time and effort."

"I – I can't help it," she said. "He's – he means everything to me and I wish I could turn it off, but I can't."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Duo thought of Heero and Trowa.

"What is a Summoning?" Hilde repeated Quatre's question.

Because she was his servant, Duo decided to give her a better answer than he had to Quatre.

"It's a tradition that the Old Ones on the Council have. This isn't something a lot of Ephemerals know about, and there are some Old Council members who would execute you if you knew about it."

Hilde's eyes widened slightly. "It's that big a deal?"

"Yes and no. It's just… very sacred. Halloween is the one night when this plane and the next intersect, so the souls of those that are departed are very close to us on that night. The Summoning is a ceremony where all of the powerful Old Ones in a community will make a blood sacrifice and call forth the spirits of those departed. We pool our magic so that we have a greater chance for success."

"And they invited you?"

Duo shrugged. "Selfish reasons only, I'm sure. It helps to have as many powerful magic users as you can to make sure it works."

"Who – have you done it before?"

"Not since I left the Council. It's too hard to do on your own, not unless you feel like making a human sacrifice, and I don't."

"But before? When you did work for the Council?"

Duo nodded.

"Can you Summon anyone who's died?"

"In theory."

She frowned. "But not in practice."

"No. At least, I can't. I've been trying for five hundred years to Summon the same spirit, but he never comes."

"That golden man?" Hilde guessed. "The one from your memories?"

"Yeah, that'd be him." Duo swallowed hard and then sighed. "Listen, Thursday night, be careful, and don't go looking for trouble. Halloween is tricky, and now that magic is legal… things could get crazy. If anything happens, I want you to let me know, okay?"

She rolled her eyes.

"I can take care of myself."

"I know that, or I never would have wanted you for my servant. But sometimes the things you never plan for are the ones that happen, so…"

She arched an eyebrow at him.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with what happened to you last night, would it?"

Duo frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I don't know. Sometime around eleven or so last night I was just about to fall asleep and I felt the most amazing sense of… euphoria. And then a few hours later I felt it again… and then again this morning."

Duo blushed.

"Er, sorry about that. I thought I had blocked you out pretty well."

"What was it?"

"Well, that'd be me having sex with my Soul Mate, I guess."

Now it was Hilde's turn to blush.

"Your…Soul Mate?"

"Yep."

"Um. Okay. But this wasn't – it didn't feel like sex, it felt like –"

"Like Nirvana," Duo said helpfully. "Like my entire being was content and all the darkness in me was replaced with golden light."

"Exactly."

"Yeah, apparently that's what happens. It'll take some practice for me to stop bothering you with it."

"I'm not bothered by it – wait, who is your Soul Mate anyway?"

"Some null," Duo groaned and rubbed his forehead. "It's so ridiculous. He's – he was just supposed to be a fun distraction and now! Fuck me."

"Yeah, I'm guessing he did," Hilde said with a smirk. Duo glared at her.

"He's saddled with some ancient Gypsy curse, which, because he's a null, he never really believed in, and all of a sudden – Soul Mates."

"You sound so thrilled."

"My life is complicated enough already, thanks, I didn't need this too. Not to mention –" Duo caught himself before saying Heero's name. But, honestly, he was wondering just how the assassin would take this new development. Duo would probably have to wait half a decade to find out, but when he did – he was willing to bet that Heero would not be pleased.

Hilde looked expectant.

"Nothing," Duo sighed. "Please be smart – I'd really like to keep you around for a while."

She rolled her eyes.

"I will. You should take your own advice too – stop letting yourself get tortured with a silver whip, okay?"

"Well what else am I going to do for fun?" Duo demanded.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Seven

Duo woke early on Wednesday to go shopping in preparation for the Summoning the following evening. He needed to replace his leather pants – ruined courtesy of Meilin – and he found it exceedingly difficult to find a decent pair of black leather pants that weren't skin tight. In the end, he decided to go for quality over comfort, and found a pair that while snug, at least allowed him to move easily.

The Summoning was a blend of reverence and festival, and Duo decided to purchase a long, black leather duster and black vest to go with his new pants and high collar black shirt. When he tried the duster on he instantly fell in love, and he wondered why he hadn't thought to purchase one before.

It was nearly noon when he finished shopping, and Duo returned to his condo to wait for Trowa.

By one he still hadn't heard from Trowa and decided to text him.

When he still didn't have a response by two, he called.

At four he called again and left a message.

By sunset, Duo forced himself to face the fact that Trowa was not going to show up.

He wondered if Trowa had, in fact, not been okay with being his Soul Mate and was taking this opportunity to run away to Spain. Trowa struck him as the kind of man who would at least break up with someone before running away, however, and Duo told himself that that wasn't why Trowa hadn't shown.

His next thought was that Duo's would-be assassins might have gotten to him, but that kind of collateral just wasn't done much these days – besides, if that was the case, surely they would have called to demand that Duo meet them and ransom his lover's freedom by now.

Quatre had some family dinner that night, and had closed the office for the day, which meant that Duo spent a lonely, sullen night visiting bars.

It wasn't until Thursday morning that inspiration hit and he rushed to the FBI's gas station headquarters in search of Hilde.

"What are you doing here?" Wufei demanded the instant Duo walked in.

"I thought I worked here," Duo said with a smirk.

Wufei glared. "I didn't realize you even knew the definition of work."

Duo was about to respond, but Hilde showed up and grabbed his arm and dragged him into her cubicle.

"Listen, I need a favor," he said to her after checking to see that Wufei had moved on.

"A favor I'm going to like giving you or the kind I regret for the rest of my life?"

Duo smirked. "Neither. I just need you to find out where Trowa is."

"Trowa?"

"By boyfriend – my Soul Mate. I guess we've moved past the boyfriend thing."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know – that's what I need you to find out. He didn't show up for our date yesterday, and I haven't heard from him since Tuesday afternoon."

"I can't start a police investigation because your boyfriend stood you up for a date," Hilde groused.

"I'm asking you to just pick up the phone and call Chippendales and ask if he showed up for work last night..."

She gave him a hard look.

"You want me to pick up the phone, call Chippendales, tell them that I'm an FBI agent wondering if Trowa Barton showed up to work last night." She paused. "How is that NOT going to make them think he's in trouble with the law?"

"When you say it like that, of course it sounds… can't you just, fuck, I don't know."

Hilde scowled at him, but after a moment she sighed and picked up her desk phone and dialed information. She scribbled down whatever number they gave her while simultaneously glaring at Duo, and he was impressed with her ability to multitask

. While she waited for an answer at Chippendales she continued to glare at him, but as soon as someone else picked up the other line she smiled and transformed into a terrifyingly sweet and charming person.

"Yes, hi, I'm Helen Smith with Nutri-Now Weight Loss systems and I was calling you to ask about contracting a few of your employees for our next advertising campaign – we'd love to use them as the dates that our women who have lost weight go out with. Yes, I'll hold for your manager." She gave him a smug look.

"I don't really see where you're going with this," Duo told her.

"Wait and learn from the master," she told him. "Yes, hello, yes, this is Helen Smith. It's nice to meet you Debbie. Yes, yes, we shoot next week actually – during the day, of course – and I was wondering if you had a few performers with open schedules who might like the extra job. Hm? Oh, well, I've actually heard the most delightful things about Trowa Barton, and I was wondering if he was available? Could I maybe speak with him? Oh, that's too bad. I hope it's nothing serious. Hm, well, he was our first choice, but, would you mind emailing me the phone numbers for a few of the other men? Yes, my address is Helen-s-at-nutri-now. Thanks so much Debbie!"

Hilde hung up the phone and turned to Duo.

"He's off for the rest of the week, some kind of family emergency? His sister called yesterday to tell them."

"His sister? Why didn't he call?"

"I don't know. Maybe he's too busy crying his eyes out, or maybe he was on a plane, or – I don't know, Duo, but clearly he hasn't been kidnapped by your would-be assassin, so chill out."

"It's still weird that a grown man has his sister call in sick for him," Duo muttered.

His cell phone started to ring and he checked the caller ID to see that it was Quatre.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Catharine Bloom is in my office, demanding that I have the police investigate the torture and probable murder of several shape shifters last night."

Duo swore under his breath.

"Okay, I'll round up Hilde and Wufei and we'll be there soon," Duo said.

Wufei, silently fuming, drove them to Quatre's office in the black suburban that the FBI somehow thought blended in with all of the other cars on the road.

It took them nearly half an hour to get downtown, but Catharine Bloom was still waiting in Quatre's office when they arrived, and she looked almost as furious as Wufei did.

"Who are they?" She demanded when Duo, Hilde, and Wufei walked in.

"These are the police who investigate murders and crimes related to magic users," Quatre explained just as Duo opened his mouth. Quatre gave him a warning look.

"I wasn't going to be rude," Duo grumbled. Quatre looked disbelieving.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Wufei asked Catharine, his tone more neutral and polite than Duo had ever heard it before.

Catharine looked him over, as if deciding whether or not to trust him.

"These are it, princess," Duo told her, "he's in charge of the FBI unit that investigates magical crimes, and she's his assistant – either you tell them, or you get to figure this out on your own."

"Duo! She's been through a traumatic event!" Quatre scolded him.

"You could always just go to the Council instead," he told her, ignoring Quatre.

Catharine's eyes narrowed and he could feel her rage like a metaphysical slap on his face. Beside him, Hilde winced.

"The Council is responsible for these crimes," Catharine snapped.

"Great," Duo muttered and sat down. "This I've got to hear. What did the big bad Council to do the poor puppies this time?"

She looked ready to rip his throat out, but Wufei put one hand on her shoulder.

"Ms. Bloom, please ignore him and let's focus on figuring out what happened and what we can do to help you," he said.

Duo was impressed, and when Catharine actually did turn around to face Wufei instead of glaring at Duo, he allowed himself to relax. Despite the fact that both Quatre and Hilde were glaring at him instead.

"We had a meeting Tuesday night, and –"

"We?" Wufei interrupted.

"My…group."

"She means her illegal pack," Duo clarified. "Illegal because it's against Council law, and punishable by death to form a pack and meet."

"Duo, please," Quatre snapped.

"My group met on Tuesday because it was the full moon, and after our run we discussed politics and our plans for legally gaining our autonomy. But in the middle of our meeting we were attacked by a group of vampires. Three of our members were killed, two seriously injured, and one – one they took."

"Took?" Wufei echoed.

Catharine nodded. "They said they wanted to teach him a lesson."

"Him, would this happen to be…?" Duo trailed off, not wanting to tell the others about the fact that Catharine's illegal pack actually had an alpha controlling it.

She nodded, not meeting his gaze. Duo sighed.

"Do they– and who are they, by the way – know who he is?"

"They do, and they – it was Noin, Meilin, Rabia, Alexios, and Urshanabi."

"Urshanabi?" Hilde echoed. "Like the boatman from Gilgamesh?"

"Yeah, that's him," Duo confirmed. "He's about six thousand years old, but he's not crazy powerful. So, Catharine, you're telling me that five vampires managed to wreck your party when there were thirty or more of you and your… special friend was there too?"

"If we had wanted to, of course we could have killed them, but we are trying to do this the right way. We defended ourselves only."

"Shame you didn't defend yourselves a little better," Duo muttered. Then again, Noin was very powerful, and Urshanabi powerful enough that Duo would prefer to not have to ever fight the vampire again.

"Are you going to do anything about it or not?" Catharine demanded.

"It would be helpful to gather more witness statements, to see the bodies, to interview those who are injured…" Wufei suggested.

Catharine started to look cagey.

"They can't," Duo sighed, "these shape shifters all belong to Old Ones, am I right?" Catharine nodded. "If any of them spoke to you and their master's found out they could be punished, maybe even killed."

"This is ridiculous. How are we supposed to maintain justice if this Council has the authority to do whatever it wants?" Wufei demanded.

"Yeah, that would be the major flaw in you humans thinking you could make magic all legal and neat and tidy," Catharine growled.

"We can question the Council, though, can't we?" Hilde spoke up.

"You can't," Wufei told her.

She opened her mouth to start an argument with him, but Quatre spoke up.

"I will speak with them – I have a meeting with Lady Une tomorrow morning in any case. Duo, tonight, could you…maybe ask around for information?"

"You're going to the Summoning?" Catharine turned on Duo, her face suddenly filled with hope.

"Yeah…"

"Could you – my… friend… could you?"

"Could I what? Break him out of prison for you? The Council is perfectly within their rights to keep him and punish him as they see fit – wait, who does he belong to?"

She winced.

"He – we both belong to Treize."

"Oh fucking hell," Duo groaned. "Could you be any more stupid? You belong to the Head of the Council and you're trying to stage a revolution?"

"We shouldn't have to belong to anyone! We have the same rights as anyone else and I'm tired of listening to racist bastards like you say that we should just accept our fate! It's not right!"

"What's not right is a pack of half-mad werewolves marauding through Ireland killing entire villages. What's not right is an alpha shape shifter deciding that he wants to make himself a little harem of shape shifter juvenile girls to serve his pleasure. What's not right are children murdered in their beds whenever there's a full moon and a shape shifter without self-control wanders by. I've seen what you do to humans, so do not lecture me about what is right!"

"Things could be different!" She shouted at him.

"Well, they aren't!"

"Not yet," Quatre spoke up, his quiet voice nevertheless silencing both Duo and Catharine. "But we are working together to make this a better world for all of us, not just humans, not just vampires, not just Ephemerals, but everyone. That includes shape shifters and all other Old Ones."

"Please, just – find out if he's still alive."

Catharine's large eyes were filled with tears. Duo sighed.

"Sure, fine. I'll…ask."

"He's a lion. We're both lions."

"He's – he's that damn green eyed lion that sits at Treize's feet all the time, isn't he?" Duo demanded.

She nodded. "Treize likes to keep him close, to show him off."

Duo bit down on his desire to start cursing again.

"Okay, well, it's getting to be sunset, so I need to go. I'll… do what I can about your friend."

"He's my brother," Catharine added in a desperate whisper. "My little brother."

Duo closed his eyes. She reminded him, in that moment, of himself, pleading for the Old Council to spare Solo's life. He nodded to her.

"I'll do what I can," he promised her, confident that all he would be able to do would be to report his execution to her. Treize was, if possible, more obsessed with keeping shape shifters in their place than Duo was. The fact that his own lion was the alpha of an illegal pack would reflect very badly on him, and he would have to execute him just to save face.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duo arrived at the Mandalay Bay penthouse just after sunset, dressed in his new black garb, and was immediately overwhelmed by the atmosphere.

Only Old Ones were present – no Ephemerals, no servants – and each of them were dressed their absolute best, as though they were waiting for their dream date to pick them up for the prom. Duo could taste their nervousness and excitement.

He had forgotten just how much this night excited everyone. He, personally, had never felt much excitement. He knew that had to do with the fact that, every year, he was disappointed with his failure to Summon Solo, but all of the other Old Ones managed to Summon their departed loved ones, and looked forward to the chance to be with them again the next year.

Duo was led to an outdoor balcony that seemed just as large as the Council chamber, and was already filled with Council members and powerful Old Ones who had been invited to the event. In the middle of the balcony a fire pit had been created, and a black cauldron was suspended above the flames.

"Good evening, Duo," Sylvia Noventa greeted him.

Unlike most of the Old Ones, who really did, in Duo's mind, look as though they wanted to pick up a hot date, Sylvia was dressed demurely, in a classical Roman chiton of blue silk. Her hair was loose, and she looked very young and very innocent. He felt a pang of guilt.

"You're going to Summon your father?" He guessed.

She nodded.

"Yes, I always do."

He flinched as she reached out to lay her hand on his arm.

"I want to apologize for what happened with the Arbiter last week. That… was not my intention. I suspected that Treize would try to bait him, but I had no idea he would be so successful."

"Yeah, me either," Duo grumbled. "Sylvia, has the Council been having trouble with their shape shifters recently?"

She pursed her lips. "I haven't. I don't keep any, I've never believed in their enslavement."

"I know, I know. I remember your lectures on the subject."

She smirked slightly but then turned more serious. "I've heard that there was some excitement recently… several Council members have been complaining about their shape shifters lack of respect." She shrugged. "I assume that Martha Vendomme's actions have inspired quite a few to rebel."

"Yeah, I'll bet." Duo realized that he hadn't asked about her, or Ralph, and he wondered if they were among the injured or dead.

"Please don't forget to add your Offering," Sylvia said before abruptly walking away from him.

"Duo, so good of you to join us."

He looked up to see Treize approaching. The vampire was wearing a red brocade frock coat, golden waistcoat, golden breeches, white stockings, and a white cravat. He looked every inch the eighteenth century French courtier. Treize hadn't emigrated to the United States until after the French Revolution, and Duo knew that the aristocrat missed his lifestyle in the elaborate French courts.

"It was generous of you to invite me," Duo said.

Treize smiled and gestured for Duo to approach the fire and cauldron.

"Please, would you like to make your Offering?"

"I think I'll wait a little while," Duo hedged.

"Afraid to be ignored yet again?" Treize teased. Before Duo could offer a retort, Treize waved a hand. "Actually, I'm glad that you wanted to wait. There is something I want to speak with you about."

Duo arched an eyebrow, but followed Treize as he moved to the perimeter of the balcony, away from the others who were already starting to Summon their spirits. Out of the corner of his eye, Duo watched as Sylvia slit her wrist open and allowed a steady flow of red to fall into the black cauldron on the fire. A wave of golden smoke rose, and a moment later, Noventa emerged, his spirit form a golden shadow of his former self. He floated towards Sylvia, and the two walked out of Duo's sight as more Old Ones pressed forward for their own Offerings and Summonings.

"The Old Council is sending an emissary."

Duo frowned. "When's the last time they sent one?"

"When we petitioned to execute you." Treize said it without anger or disappointment, and Duo allowed himself to feel a moment of smug victory.

"And before that… it was what, 1824?"

Treize nodded.

"Why now? Are you petitioning to execute me again?"

"No. It was made quite clear on the previous occasion that to bother the Old Council with such a request would be a waste of their time and ours."

Duo smirked.

"Yeah… sorry about that."

"As soon as Jason's reign is over, your protection from the Old Council will vanish," Treize assured him.

Duo shrugged. "Probably, but I doubt he's going anywhere anytime soon. He's a tough old bastard."

"The Old Council is concerned about the legislation being passed in this country. They were against the legalization of magic in the first place."

"Doesn't surprise me – legalization means that the nulls get to interfere."

"Exactly. The Old Council is struggling to keep any European legislation from progressing."

"Good luck with that – now that the US is legal, everyone else will follow."

Treize shrugged eloquently. "Perhaps. All the same, the Old Council believes that we – this Council – are losing our authority and our ability to control magical beings. They believe that the legalization of magic users will lead to a population spike in vampires and shape shifters, and that the resulting influx will create disorder."

Duo had to agree with them.

"And what do you think?" He asked Treize.

"I believe that the situation could turn out that way, or, if we are strong, we can prevent that sort of chaos. The Old Council is sending an emissary to see if I am, in fact, able to maintain order."

"So…" Duo was curious about how he, an enemy of Treize and this Council, fit into this. "Are you asking me to play nice?" He smiled. "Because you know I'm not very good at playing nice."

"No, I'm asking you to tame your Arbiter. Not because it's in my best interests – although it is – but because it is also in your best interests. If they think he is wild and free, they will have him killed."

"Or you will, and blame it on them," Duo guessed.

"No, if I wanted your human dead, I would have him killed. I have no need to hide behind others."

Treize looked past Duo to the cauldron.

"I must go, but please find me before you leave, there is one other piece of business we need to discuss. But, I will let you go and fail again at Summoning your partner."

Even after centuries, Duo was still impressed by the way that Treize could deliver an insult so smoothly. He watched the vampire mingle among the other Old Ones for a few minutes. He wondered who Treize would Summon. Unlike most Old Ones, Treize had never Summoned the same spirit year after year, but seemed to alternate between the spirits of some of his most spirited rivals. Duo was confident that Treize Summoned them just to rub it in their faces that he was still alive.

He saw Zechs walking around with an older, golden version of himself. Duo knew it was Zechs' father, having once met the man in the flesh before his death. Noin was walking around with some woman whom Duo did not recognize, and most of the other Old Ones had also Summoned their companions.

With a sigh, Duo approached the cauldron. He allowed himself to hope that this year, he might finally Summon Solo. He picked up the knife resting in the coals of the fire and used it to open a long cut on his forearm. He held the bleeding limb over the cauldron, and when his blood dropped into the steaming vat it hissed and a dark, golden cloud of smoke rose.

Duo focused on his memories of Solo and projected his desire to see the man into the smoke. He waited.

After fifteen minutes, the smoke remained a lifeless cloud and began to dissipate. For a second, Duo was struck with the crazy desire to Summon Anthony instead, but he buried it and stepped back from the smoke. After a few minutes it swirled away into the night sky, and Duo's hopes for a reunion were once again crushed.

He was convinced that Solo refused to come to him because he had yet to forgive Duo for succumbing to torture and then allowing him to die. They had once made a pact to never abandon each other, and Duo knew that Solo viewed his collaboration with the Old Council as abandonment – even if it had been out of a desire to protect Solo. The fact remained, they should have died together.

Duo wandered aimlessly around the balcony for half an hour, listening in on the conversations some of the Old Ones had with their spirits, but for the most part he was drowning in the same depression that hit him on this eve every year. Solo would never forgive him, and Duo knew that it would be a long, long time before he would join the other man on the spirit plane.

He spotted Treize speaking with Zechs and his father and made his way over to the men.

"Ah, giving up already?" Treize taunted him.

Duo scowled.

"Father, do you remember Duo Maxwell?" Zechs asked the golden spirit beside him.

"Yes, that bastard half-breed. Of course." The golden spirit looked at Duo disdainfully. "I still don't know why you bothered to save his life in the first place."

Zechs smiled at Duo. "At the time it certainly seemed worth the effort." He shrugged. "And the reward for it was exceptional. I would no doubt do it again."

Duo rolled his eyes, but decided not to say anything rude in front of Zechs' dead father.

"I should go," he said to Treize.

"Allow me to escort you out," Treize said and led Duo from the balcony. Instead of going towards the elevator, however, Treize led him to the Council chamber. The room was dark save for a few dim chandeliers that cast a faint, golden glow on the marble floor. In this light, the three circles seemed more sinister.

"Your Arbiter is only one of the many challenges we must resolve before the Council emissary arrives," Treize said. At the sound of his voice, two human servants appeared, and Treize gestured at them. They disappeared again.

"The others being?"

"The shape shifters are becoming…restless."

At least Duo had been lucky enough that Treize brought the subject up – he had been having trouble figuring out how to casually drop it into a conversation.

"Aren't they always?"

"Indeed. You and I, more than anyone else, understand just how dangerous shape shifters can be." And it was one of the few things that Treize and Duo agreed on – shape shifters were too dangerous to be free and allowed to roam in packs. During the Hamelin crisis, Treize had been one of the most vocal about the need to wipe out the free packs, and it had been the one time he had ever wholeheartedly supported Duo's actions as Executioner.

"What seems to be the problem this time?"

"The shape shifters have been inspired by the legislation and are pushing for their freedom and their desire to form packs again."

"Never gonna happen."

"I know that. You know that. I doubt the humans understand just how dangerous these creatures can be. Without a strong hand to guide them… I fear that the humans will have to learn the error of their ways in the most painful, gruesome way possible."

"What does this have to do with the emissary?"

"My own shape shifters have been actively participating in a… minor rebellion. Several decades ago – after you left – I acquired the most extraordinary pair of lions. Brother and sister, and nearly five thousand years old."

That took Duo aback – he had no idea Catharine was that old. She seemed fairly powerful, but Duo had encountered shape shifters with considerable more power than she had. He wondered about her brother, that green eyed lion that had stared at Duo during his punishment. How powerful was he?

"They claim to be the children of Narasimha."

"Um… 'fraid I don't know who that is."

"He is the Lion God, an avatar of Vishnu."

"The Indian god? They claim to be demi-gods?"

Treize nodded. "And I'm inclined to believe them. They are…truly extraordinary. Magnificent in both human and animal form. The girl, of course, I don't have much use for other than as decoration, but the boy… absolutely divine." Treize sighed. "Of course, he is prideful, but I've broken him in to an extent."

Duo mentally winced. He knew that Treize tended to mix his own pleasure with the pain of his bed partners, and that Treize often used his shape shifters as little more than toys to unleash his sadism on. The fact that a shape shifter would heal faster and better than any other Old One, Ephemeral, or null had always appealed to Treize. Duo remembered the parade of shape shifters that rotated out of Treize's bed. He also remembered – in fact would never forget – the two times that he had shared Treize's bed.

"And the problem would be?"

"They – the male, in particular - are attempting to form a pack."

"That's an offense punishable by death."

Treize sighed. "And if it were any other shape shifter, I would have already ordered their execution. But he is truly extraordinary. It would be a waste to kill him. I've been…disciplining him for the past two days, but to no real avail."

"Sounds like you might have to kill him – the emissary –"

"Exactly. Tell me, you, at one time, refused to obey the laws of the Council. You threatened to kill all of the Old Council, and in fact did kill three members – including the only shape shifter to ever sit on a Council. What made you begin to obey?"

Duo frowned.

"One hundred lashes from Deathscythe went a long way to changing my behavior," Duo conceded, "but… mostly I gave up on there being any other option."

"Exactly. If only my lion could be made to see just how little choice he has. But first, he must be made to see his own weakness – as you were. I need you to punish him."

"Me? You've got your two enforcers – Meilin and…"

"Rabia."

Duo nodded, filing that information away. The dark skinned vampire, then, was one of the ones who had attacked the shape shifters.

"What about them?"

"They are not strong enough to wield the Deathscythe."

Duo frowned. "I haven't touched it in over one hundred years – I don't – do you still have it?"

"Of course. I wouldn't let such a treasure disappear."

"So, you want me to punish your lion?" To Duo, it felt too much like easing back into his old role as Executioner.

"I need you to," Treize corrected, annoyance in his voice. "Meilin literally cannot wield it, and Rabia is… afraid. That weapon is the only thing that will crush the lion, and I want him crushed."

Duo frowned at the vehemence in Treize's voice.

"Do it out of your obligation to protect humans, if nothing else. You know what a pack of shape shifters could do, especially with a five thousand year old alpha to lead them."

Duo shuddered. He didn't even want to imagine that scenario.

"I'm not working for the Council again," Duo cautioned him.

"As if I would ever want you to," Treize sniffed.

One of the human servants appeared again, this time carrying a large, ivory case. Duo's breath hitched as he recognized it. Greedily, he reached out and opened the lid, revealing the beautiful, cursed weapon within.

Resting on a bed of black velvet, Deathscythe gleamed in the low light and as soon as Duo reached for it, he could feel the dark, seductive pull of its magic. It had missed him, that much was clear when he wrapped his hand around the leather grip on the handle. He could feel the dark spells on the whip practically sing in recognition of his own magic. He smirked.

He picked up the whip and stepped back, allowing the full length of the three silver cords to fall to their full extent, the silver scythes on the ends clanking against the marble floor. Duo gave a few experimental flicks of the whip, and he could feel the rush of magic from it and it made him almost giddy.

"Perhaps I am doing you a favor," Treize mused, drawing Duo's attention away from the weapon.

Duo frowned.

"You always were magnificent to watch when you worked." Treize sighed and waved one hand, and the human left again after carefully setting the ivory case on the marble floor near Treize's throne.

He returned a moment later with the other human servant, and between them they dragged a limp, naked body. Even in the low light, Duo could see that the man had already been tortured extensively – and since he was a shape shifter, it was clear that he hadn't been allowed to change forms, which would have helped to heal the injuries. His chest and back were already covered in whip lashes, and Duo didn't even need to study them to know that it was Meilin's handiwork. They criss-crossed in several places, and seemed to vary in their depth. It was poor work, and Duo was disappointed that the Chinese vampire hadn't been trained better. Then again, he supposed, there wasn't anyone to train her, without him at court anymore.

As the humans approached, Duo continued to examine the body. His head was bowed, so Duo couldn't see his face, but his hair was a striking, auburn shade that vividly reminded Duo of Trowa.

The humans stopped just in front of the large, black circle in the marble and waited for further instruction.

"I know he doesn't look like much right now, but perhaps, after he has been tamed, you will be able to see just how magnificent he is."

That sounded like Treize was offering to share his pet, and the thought did not appeal to Duo.

"I'm sure –"

As Duo started to speak he continued to examine the man's body and noticed a faint, dark blue lion tattooed on his right hip. He looked up to find that the man had lifted his head and was staring at him with the same disbelief that Duo knew was mirrored on his own face.

Sharp green eyes met Duo's and then narrowed. Duo quickly schooled his face into a neutral expression and looked at Treize. But Treize was still staring intently at his lion, at Trowa Barton, and hadn't even noticed Duo's recognition of the man who had claimed to be a null. The man who was, in reality, a five thousand year old shape shifter fathered by a lion god. The man who was Duo's Soul Mate.

Duo's grip tightened on Deathscythe. Once again, it seemed, Duo had been betrayed.

"I think that twenty five lashes should do the trick," Treize spoke up, interrupted the dark spiral of Duo's thoughts.

Duo jerked his gaze away from Trowa's and looked at Treize.

"Twenty five? In one session?"

"Hm."

"You do remember that I've killed people with five lashes from this whip," Duo said.

"Yes, but he should be able to withstand it. And if he can't, then clearly I paid too much for him when I purchased him in the first place." Treize smirked at Duo, but it wasn't a look of triumph or glee, just that of a predator who scented blood.

The humans pushed Trowa into the black circle. The man refused to kneel, and remained standing until Treize sighed and gestured with one hand, initiating the magic of the circles that would bind the victim inside. Trowa's instantly fell to his knees, and only barely managed to avoid falling on his face. He caught himself on his elbows and sat back on his heels to glare at both Treize and Duo.

"The scars will be permanent," Duo reminded Treize, and himself. He tried to sound calm, but his mind was a maelstrom of thought and emotion. He had slept with Treize's pet lion – and he hadn't even realized that the man was a shape shifter. Not only that, but Treize didn't seem to realize it – Duo had watched this man play games for five hundred years now, and Treize would never be able to contain himself if he realized that he was about to force Duo to torture his own lover. Which begged the question – what was going on? And what was Trowa playing at?

"Hm, I know."

"You mentioned that you prized his human form…"

"Yes, have no fear, I will certainly enjoy the sight of them on his back as he submits to me in the future."

And of course, there was that. The knowledge that Duo was sharing Trowa with Treize Khushrenada of all people.

Trowa's jaw clenched at those words, and his gaze shifted to Duo. The green eyes that looked at him were not those of the intelligent, sharp witted man that Duo had last seen two days ago, but they were the empty, bottomless green eyes of the lion who had watched him get tortured by Meilin. Duo swallowed hard and forced his mind to settle.

He reminded himself that Trowa had committed a crime, and that he had agreed to oversee his punishment. Everything else – including his desire to literally kill the shape shifter – would have to wait until they were away from Treize. Now, he just needed to get this over with.

Duo stepped into the circle and positioned himself behind Trowa. He felt a sharp stab of regret as he prepared to deliver the first lash. Trowa's beautiful body was about to become just as scarred as Duo's own.

He delivered the first blow across Trowa's shoulders, and the three silver cords whipped across his back before the scythes scraped across, digging deeply into his flesh. As soon as the silver touched Trowa's skin, Duo felt the acid burn of the silver on his own skin.

He had to pause and draw in a ragged breath as the pain speared through him. He was bewildered for a moment before he realized – the bond that he and Trowa shared didn't just reflect pleasure, but also pain. Duo had just felt Trowa's pain from the lash.

"Son of bitch," Duo muttered. He felt cold fury start to build in his stomach, and he shoved all of his anger towards Trowa, making sure that the shape shifter knew just how pissed he was. He saw Trowa's shoulders tense, and allowed himself a grim smirk of satisfaction before delivering the second blow.

By the ten blow, Duo was finding it difficult to breathe, and Trowa's pain was a wall of never-ending agony that he had to fight against each time he lifted his wrist. When Duo had been punished by Deathscythe all those years ago, he had been dealt ten lashes at a time for ten consecutive days. Duo had never delivered more than twenty lashes to an individual and had them survive it, and he was doubtful that Trowa would be able to make it to twenty five. He didn't know if HE could make it. Despite the fact that Trowa had yet done more than grunt in pain twice, Duo could feel just how much the whip was cutting into Trowa's flesh. Of course, the real beauty of Deathscythe wasn't just that the whip punished the flesh, it also drained your magic, sucking away at your strength until you were left nearly mortal. Duo knew that Deathscythe was enjoying the taste of Trowa's magic – he could feel the weapon grow more alive with each stroke – but it was also greedy, and was using Duo's connection to the shape shifter to leech magic from both of them.

Duo looked up at Treize, and was deeply disturbed to see his flushed face. Treize looked to be incredibly aroused by what was happening in front of him.

"That's ten. I'm not sure he'll make it to twenty five."

Treize frowned slightly and tilted his head as he considered.

"Continue," Treize said after a moment. "After all, he's the son of a god. Surely fifteen more lashes, even from you, won't be enough to kill him." Treize sneered.

Duo resignedly prepared to deliver the next ten lashes. He had forgotten just how powerful Deathscythe was in his hand – how much the weapon actually controlled him as he used it on a victim. In days gone past, Duo enjoyed the sensation, had actually looked forward to having Deathscythe wrest control from him and take the lead.

He wasn't sure what had changed in the intervening years – the loss of Anthony, his exile from the magical world, perhaps it was the fact that Trowa was kneeling before him – but now it simply filled Duo with a tense, bitter feeling.

The next ten lashes were delivered faster than the first, and by the end of the set Duo's head and heart were pounding fiercely. Trowa's magic, that wild, golden warmth that Duo had felt two night's ago, was actually starting to grow dim, and Duo's own magic felt cold and distant.

Duo paused to regain his breath and looked up at Treize. The vampire nodded at him, indicating that Duo should finish it.

For the first time in a long time, Duo fought against Deathscythe, using his sheer force of will to keep the weapon from drawing magic from Trowa and instead directed it to take his own magic. He knew that Trowa wouldn't survive another five lashes, not with his magic nearly drained. There was nothing he could do to alleviate the physical pain – or prevent more of it, but Duo could force Deathscythe to feed from him as well.

The last five lashes were quick and brutal and at the end, Trowa's back was red with the blood from his wounds. Duo could see the lash marks amidst the blood, however, because Deathscythe didn't just cut into the flesh, it also used magic to burn its way into the skin, immediately turning the lash marks a dark, crisp purple.

Duo had looked over his handiwork many times, but this was the first time he actually felt sick over it.

"Thank you, Executioner," Treize said. He rose from the throne he had sat on during the proceedings. "As always, it was a treat to see your work, and I think this really is what he needed to learn his lesson."

Duo nodded. The effort it was taking him to remain standing and keep his breath even was excruciating, and he prayed that Treize didn't try to draw him into a long conversation.

"My servants will see to Deathscythe," Treize continued, gesturing one of them forward to collect the weapon from Duo. He eagerly dropped it into the man's outstretched hand, but as soon as his fingers left the hilt he nearly fell over.

As much as Deathscythe had been draining him of magic, it had also been supporting him in his efforts, and without that magic to bolster him, Duo felt Trowa's pain even more fiercely than before. It only further enraged him, especially after Treize released the magic on the circle and Trowa fell to the ground, unmoving.

Duo projected all of the anger he could at the other man, and was rewarded when he groaned and tried to sit up.

Treize chuckled. "Leave him," he instructed the humans, "let him enjoy his agony and futility here for a while longer." He turned to Duo.

"Well, it's nearly midnight, and I want to Summon an old friend." He clapped one hand on Duo's back.

Duo nodded and started to follow Treize from the room. He started towards the elevators, but as soon as Treize went onto the balcony to join the others, Duo doubled back to the Council chamber.

The room was empty except for Trowa, and Duo wasted no time crossing to the other man.

"You unbelievably stupid bastard," Duo started. "What the fuck – what the fuck were you thinking?"

Trowa chuckled weakly. He had managed to get up onto his hands and knees, and he turned his head to glare at Duo.

"I'm going to fucking kill you," Duo continued.

"Job's already half done," Trowa groaned.

Duo jerked him to his feet, triggering a wave of pain as Trowa's back muscles strained into motion.

"Is there another way out of here?" Duo demanded. He really did not want to be seen dragging the bloody shape shifter through Treize's living room.

"Back stairs."

Duo ripped off his black duster and put it on Trowa. He eased it up his arms and over his back, but when it came into contact with Trowa's back the other man actually whimpered from the pain. Duo drew in a deep breath and buttoned the front. He didn't allow himself to feel anything or think about anything other than getting the two of them out of here.

He looped one of Trowa's arms over his shoulders and then half carried, half dragged the man towards a dark hallway. When they hit the stairs, Duo realized just what an impossible task this was. The hotel was at least forty storeys tall.

"Down four flights, then we're into the guest floors, we can take one of their elevators," Trowa muttered, as if he sensed Duo's panic.

"You're a crazy idiot," Duo replied but started down the stairs.

"Doesn't mean much, coming from you," Trowa panted.

"Fuck you."

"Done that already," Trowa pointed out with a bitter grin.

Duo dropped Trowa's arm and shoved him back against the wall, cursing when he felt the agony of Trowa's back coming into contact with the concrete.

Duo glared at him, but the look of resignation in Trowa's eyes, coupled with the pain still etched into his face, had Duo biting back his words.

"You are fucking unbelievable," Duo muttered and grabbed his arm again.

They made it down to the guest floors, and when Duo opened an access door they were assaulted with bright lights and garish carpet. Duo started to drag them down the hallway towards the very distant seeming elevators.

"Where is your pack?" Duo asked as they walked.

"Can't – no."

"I'm not going to kill them. I'm just going to give you to them so they can heal you and then I can kill you on my own terms."

"Treize will kill them. I can't – I can't go to them."

"Then what the fuck am I – Trowa, I'm pretty confident that you're going to die if these injuries aren't magically healed. Can you shift?"

"I can't even feel my magic. I don't think I can shift forms right now."

Duo swore.

They at last made it down the long hall to the elevator, and Duo let Trowa rest against the wall of the elevator car.

"What about Sally Po?"

"She's in Tahoe."

"Which is where?"

"Hours – eight hours by car."

"What the hell is she doing there?"

"It's Halloween," Trowa pointed out, "she went to Summon spirits with her clan."

"Then is there something I can do? Some kind of – something?"

"Like a first aid kit for shape shifters?"

"Yeah."

"No."

Duo sighed.

"Then what the hell – you're going to die without help."

When Duo had been tortured for ten days with Deathscythe he had been dumped into a cell and allowed to suffer until the next session, but at the end, when he had given in, Zechs Merquise had healed him. The Light Court Faery had been able to replenish Duo's magic and speed up the healing process for his skin – it didn't make a difference with his scars, but it HAD allowed him to start walking again the next day instead of being crippled for life. But Duo was not a Light Court Faery and he knew no one else besides Zechs.

" You can heal me," Trowa told him, still leaning against the wall.

"How? I'm a Dark Court Faery. Unless you want me to destroy out your nerve cells, there's not too much I can do to help."

"Our bond – it'll share your magic. Just as good as being with my pack."

Duo scowled. He was not a fan of that idea.

"That or just kill me," Trowa added. He lifted his head to glare at Duo. "Your choice. Just fucking pick."

"Go to hell," Duo snapped at him. If anyone was allowed to be annoyed in this situation, it was Duo, not Trowa.

When the elevator opened, Duo grabbed Trowa and together they made their way to the cab line.

They awkwardly climbed into the first available cab, and Trowa once again whimpered in pain as he sat back against the seat. Duo gave the driver directions to his condo before he looked over to see that Trowa's eyes were closed.

"Don't even think of passing out. I will not carry you."

"Thank you," Trowa said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Duo could feel how weak the other man was, and he was convinced that his own drained magic wouldn't be enough to heal him.

By the time they reached Duo's condo, Trowa was barely able to stand, and Duo knew that he was attracting more than a few curious glances as he dragged the man inside. He was grateful that it was Halloween, and that it was Las Vegas. Anywhere else, and two strangely dressed men staggering around at midnight would have seemed out of place. Here, it was normal, if noteworthy.

Once in the condo, Duo led Trowa to the bathroom and gently eased the trench coat off his shoulders before helping him step into the shower stall. Duo grabbed a washcloth and turned on the warm water tap in the shower. He waited until it was hot and then ran the washcloth under it.

"This is going to hurt like hell," he warned.

"I'll consider it an improvement, then," Trowa muttered. His head was pressed against the shower tiles, and his voice was muffled.

As gently as he could, Duo tried to clean the blood from Trowa's back.

The action brought on a fresh wave of pain, and Duo and Trowa groaned in unison.

"I swear to God I'm going to kill you for this," Duo promised.

"You like me too much. More than you should," Trowa said, and his words were slurred with pain and exhaustion.

"You think you're funny," Duo muttered.

"You think I'm funny," Trowa corrected.

"I thought you were funny. Me thinking that you're a charming, witty, intelligent, really good looking and sympathetic human – that's done. Now I just think that you're a lying asshole."

"I'm not going to apologize. I don't regret it."

Duo scowled, but really didn't know what to say to that.

He finally finished cleaning his back and hauled Trowa out of the shower and led him towards the bed.

Trowa more or less collapsed onto the bed, laying on his stomach in the middle of the bed. Duo sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Need you," Trowa said, looking up at him, green eyes hazy with pain.

"Need me to what?"

"Here. With me."

Duo looked down at the man. Trowa held his gaze and Duo eventually gave in. He started to take off his clothes and, once naked, joined Trowa in the bed, laying down on his back beside him.

"Just – do whatever. This is not me deciding to like you again," Duo warned him.

Trowa didn't bother to argue the point, but instead he draped his right arm around Duo's waist and his right leg over Duo's, pressing against his side and chest. The full body contact unleashed a very weak feeling of pleasure, and Duo groaned as a golden shiver of magic passed between them.

"I hate you," Duo sighed. "So fucking much."

But Trowa was already asleep. It wasn't long before Duo felt the pull of his own exhaustion and joined him.  
~ * ~


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Eight

Duo groaned in pain. His entire body ached with pain and every muscle felt strained. He blinked awake and winced at the bright light streaming through his windows. He judged it to be after noon from the amount of light.

At some point in the night they had shifted, and Duo was lying on his stomach with Trowa draped across his back, his head pillowed between Duo's shoulder blades.

Duo twisted his head to the side and saw that he and Trowa weren't the only ones in his bedroom.

Sitting on a chair that he had clearly pulled in from the living room was Heero. He was looking straight at Duo, and the look in his dark blue eyes was not happy.

"Hi," Duo said after a brief staring contest.

"You look like shit."

"How does he look?" Duo asked, deciding not to take offense at what was no doubt a very accurate statement.

"He'll live." Heero's eyes were narrowed, and his voice chilly as he looked at the man draped over Duo's back.

Duo's own eyes widened at the tone.

"You're jealous."

"Of course I am. You're in bed with another man and both of you are naked."

"And one of us is nearly dead. What do you think I did last night?"

"Clearly you weren't spending the time with your human."

"This is my human."

Heero stabbed a finger in Trowa's direction.

"That is a shape shifter."

Duo frowned. "How do you know?"

Heero gave him a patronizing look. "Eight hours ago his wounds were still open, but by now they've begun to close. Clearly he's an Old One. Since the sun doesn't seem to be affecting him, he's not a vampire."

"So he could be a faery or a dryad or –"

"He's been branded."

Duo scowled. "You mean the tattoo."

"Yes. The Kashmir slave markets used that brand a few thousand years ago – he's a lion."

"How do you know that?"

"It's my job to know my enemies."

Duo arched an eyebrow. "You're telling me that you showed up here – what, at four in the morning, saw him, and decided he was your enemy so you started researching shape shifter slave brands?"

"No. About fifteen years ago I was contracted to kill a tiger shape shifter, and he had been sold as a slave in Kashmir about twelve hundred years ago and had a tiger brand in the same place. I did research on him."

"Hm. Well, that would have been handy to know a few days ago."

"You lied to me. You told me you were dating a human."

Duo glared at him, infuriated by the anger in Heero's voice.

"I didn't lie to you," he ground out.

"Then why is there a shape shifter smothering you right now?"

"Why do you care?" Duo challenged.

Heero glared at him for a moment, but then drew in a deep breath and looked away.

"If he was just a human it wouldn't matter. You would enjoy him while he lived and then move on. But now – now you're cuddling with a several thousand year old shape shifter. You've always hated shape shifters, so clearly this one is special. I care because he's a threat and because I came back to – " Heero shook his head. "It doesn't matter now."

"Of course it fucking matters!" Duo struggled to pull himself free of Trowa's dead weight, and eventually managed to squirm free only to fall off the edge of the bed and onto the floor.

He rose to his feet, ignored the look of smug humor Heero's face, and stretched, feeling every muscle in his body protest at the movement. Duo looked down at Trowa's back and winced.

Each of the twenty five lash marks were raised violet gashes, surrounded by skin that, even though it was in the process of healing, was still pulled back and red. Duo swallowed hard and looked away.

"I need a shower – and then we're continuing this conversation," Duo said to Heero. "So don't even think about disappearing again."

"Fine." Heero sounded cranky but resigned.

Duo fled to the bathroom and allowed himself the luxury of thirty minutes under a scalding hot flow of water. It felt like heaven against his skin, burning through his exhaustion and pain, but it did nothing to ease his inner turmoil.

In the light of day Duo was even more furious at Trowa, and at himself. This entire situation never should have happened in the first place. To make matters worse, Duo wasn't even sure what, exactly, the situation was. All that he knew was that Trowa was a lion shape shifter who belonged to Treize and that they shared a partially complete bond as Soul Mates.

A thousand years was a long time, and Duo had always had issues with being alone. He wouldn't go so far as to label himself as dependent – because he liked being alone – but he craved companionship. He had had many lovers in his life, but never had he shared his bed with a shape shifter – not out of desire, coercion, or necessity – until now.

Duo had no issue with shape shifters as a species with a right to exist, but he absolutely drew the line at their right to be independent and autonomous, and he had never trusted one enough to even become friendly. Sleeping with Trowa was in fundamental opposition to everything that Duo believed in – even liking him was.

The fact that Duo had slept with him, had actually started to develop strong feelings for him, when he thought Trowa to be human wasn't much of a consolation.

Eventually Duo dragged himself from the shower and tried to make himself presentable. He braided his hair while it was still wet and decided not to bother with shaving.

When he entered the bedroom he saw that Trowa was still sleeping, and Heero had left his post, hopefully to retreat to the living room and not from the condo altogether. Duo dressed quickly, pulling on boxers, jeans, and a long sleeve black t-shirt before wandering into the living room.

Heero was in the kitchen, and it smelled like he was cooking. Duo joined him and started a kettle boiling.

"What are you doing?" Duo asked as he leaned against the counter and watched Heero methodically dice potatoes.

"I'm making omelets – there's steak in the fridge, I need it."

Duo rolled his eyes, but complied with the request and opened his fridge. It was full of food.

"What the hell happened to my fridge?" He demanded.

"It was empty."

"Yeah, it's not anymore."

"You needed groceries."

"I didn't need you to get them."

"Do you have a maid service I don't know about that gets groceries for you? Or do you have another lover who handles those? Because you never keep food in your house."

Duo opened his mouth to argue, but decided against it. He grabbed the package of steak and tossed it in Heero's direction. It irritated him that Heero managed to catch it before it collided with the side of his head.

He noticed that, unless Heero had suddenly developed the ability to eat for four, he was making enough food to feed all three of them. Duo sighed.

"It matters," he repeated, returning to their earlier argument. "Why did you come back?"

Heero was working on the opposite counter, and Duo had a lovely view of his back that allowed him to see as Heero's shoulders tensed at the question.

"I didn't want to," Heero said eventually. He continued to dice. "I never want to."

"Why Heero, that's one of the most romantic –"

"Shut up, please."

"Sorry."

"I always try to stay away. I hate having to come back to you. I hate needing you."

Duo swallowed at the raw emotion in Heero's voice.

"It would be so much easier if this was just sex – but even that." Heero laughed mirthlessly. "Every time I'm with another man, all I can think about is you. I've only ever wanted you. You're the only thing that makes sense in my life. You know me. You know exactly who I am. And you don't – before now – you've never pushed me. I don't want this, I don't want you. If I had any choice, I'd walk away and never come back to you."

"Heero, knowing you as well as I do, I know that your self-control is unreasonably extreme. You could walk away."

"Not when it comes to you!" Heero slammed the knife down on the cutting table and spun around to glare at Duo. "I think about you every day. I dream about you. And I don't want to."

Duo cautiously closed the space between them so that he was standing in front of Heero, close enough that their noses bumped.

"You don't have to fight it," he said softly.

"Yes, I do."

"Why?"

"Because you'll die. One of these days, I'll show up and you won't be here."

Duo frowned. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, you do realize that. As a faery I've got at least another two thousand years before I even reach middle age."

"Old age isn't the only thing that can kill you."

"I'm not some delicate fucking flower, Heero. I'm a trained killer – and I've been doing this a lot longer than you have."

"Which explains why you didn't even realize you were fucking a shape shifter." Heero stepped back and returned to his dicing.

Duo flinched. He had hoped that Heero wouldn't make that connection so easily.

"I would really like to leave him out of this for now," Duo muttered.

"Who is he?" Heero asked.

" Trowa Barton. He's a shape shifter. A lion."

"And?"

"He belongs to Treize Khushrenada."

"You've been fucking the Head of the Council's pet?" Heero didn't cuss often, and the fact that he was using the term 'fucking' instead of anything else made it crystal clear to Duo just how pissed off he was.

"Looks like it."

Duo's water finally started to boil, and he poured it through his tea strainer, letting the steaming water wash over the loose tea leaves and unleash a soothing aroma. Duo could appreciate coffee, but he truly loved tea, and he liked to start off his days with a cup when he had the time. He added honey to it and then took his mug – very unfortunately the Chippendales mug featuring Trowa's name and signature – around to the other side of the counter and sat down on one of the bar stools so that he could face Heero.

"That's incredibly stupid, even for you."

"Thanks, I love you too."

Heero stiffened at the words and Duo felt like biting his own tongue in half.

"Heero – I need you too, okay?" He sighed. "You said that relationships are something that I do, but that's not really true. I've outlived everyone I've ever loved – and that isn't because they were all mortals. Literally everything I love dies. What we have – I don't know what the hell it is. It's always been more than sex, but it's never been love. I haven't let myself feel that much with you. I can't. I don't want to bury you, too." Duo's fists clenched almost involuntarily. "Do you have any idea how fucking empty my life is when you aren't around?" He shook his head and laughed bitterly. "Sometimes I'll come home – wherever that happens to be – and I'll just sit there in the dark, waiting for you to show up. It's so pathetic. Because you never do. Never when I – " Duo swallowed and forced the flow of words to stop.

"Never when what?" Heero demanded.

"Never when I need you! My life is dark and depressing as hell, Heero. All I've got are memories of pain and torture and death. You make that go away. I don't understand how or why – but when I'm with you none of that shit matters. And then you just leave. Every single time."

Heero looked up at him.

"So yeah, I pushed you. Sue me, okay? But why the hell wouldn't I? It was a rough week – and finally– there you were, as if you knew how much I wanted you to be there, to help me forget about Anthony and the Council and every other fucking terrible thing that I have nightmares about. So yes, I pushed."

There was a long, angry silence.

"I hate your apartment," Heero said. He put the diced potatoes into a skillet and started to slice the steak.

Before Duo could formulate a response to the complete change of subject, Heero continued.

"It's completely unsecure. There's only one entrance – no alternate escape. You have windows everywhere and you share two walls with neighbors. It's a deathtrap."

It took him a moment, but Duo finally deciphered what Heero was trying to say.

"I'm not going to live in a shack in the middle of the desert," he protested.

Heero shrugged one shoulder. "Vegas has a lot of empty houses. The suburbs have entire streets without anyone living in brand new houses."

"It would be nice not to have any neighbors," Duo agreed. "But I don't have any furniture – all of this came with the condo."

"We can buy furniture."

Duo shook his head and then laughed.

"Okay, then. We'll…get a house in the suburbs."

"I'm still going to maintain my other safe houses. But this can be my base of operations."

And just like that, without actually saying anything explicit, their seventy year relationship of casual sex turned into a commitment and a promise to move in together.

"Um… so that guy in my bed," Duo began.

"The shape shifter."

"No, the other guy."

Heero glared at him.

"Kidding, kidding." Duo ran a hand through his bangs. "He's ah… well, it's really complicated."

"Everything with you always is," Heero muttered.

"Quatre Winner set us up on a blind date. He introduced Trowa as a friend – a null. Trowa and I hit it off… we went hiking… and then we had sex two nights ago."

"I don't need a blow by blow account of your relationship."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But this part is kind of important. It turns out…we're Soul Mates."

Heero stopped slicing through the steak and looked up at Duo, his expression blank.

"The bond isn't complete – we haven't shared blood."

"Your Soul Mate is a shape shifter who belongs to the man you hate."

"Yep – but I didn't know that until last night when I went to Treize's Summoning. Before I left he asked me to discipline his favorite lion. This lion happened to be five thousand years old and claims to have been descended from some kind of god."

"Discipline him – what was his crime?"

"He formed a pack."

"That's punishable by death." From Heero's tone Duo could guess that the other man wished that had been the punishment.

"Yes, it is. But Treize really likes this pet, and wanted him to be punished so harshly that he gave up on doing anything but obeying him. So, he had me use Deathscythe on him. I agreed – and then he brought out Trowa. So, I had to basically beat the shit out of someone whose heartbeat is practically in sync with my own. It was lots of fun. Also, I'm pretty impressed by the fact that I can hate my own Soul Mate enough to want to kill him."

Heero frowned. "What does he want from you?"

"Trowa?"

Heero nodded.

"No fucking clue. He was pretty out of it last night, what with nearly dying from the loss of his magic and blood. As soon as he wakes up, you can bet I'll be asking him just that question."

"An FBI agent was here a few hours ago."

Duo groaned.

"Man or woman?"

"Woman. Her name was Hilde Schiebeker."

"What did she want ?"

"She wanted to make sure you were alive – she said she'd been calling you since midnight last night – and also to let you know that there have been additional crimes."

"Fucking hell." Duo went in search of his cell phone. He found it in the pile of clothes by the bed, and sure enough, there were eight missed calls from Hilde. He called her back.

"Thank god! Your pool boy wouldn't let me into your apartment – he actually made me talk to him through the door! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." It amused Duo that Heero had kept Hilde outside, but he also appreciated it – having a parade of people in his home while he was unconscious wasn't something he wanted to think about.

"Fine? It felt like you were dying last night!"

"You could feel that?"

"Yes! I was at a party and suddenly it felt like my back was being ripped open! I made a complete fool of myself – and embarrassed my date. So I did not get laid last night, and I'm also pissed about that."

"Shit. I'm so sorry. I thought I was blocking you out but –"

"But what? When you were attacked by an army of goblins who ripped your skin off you kind of forgot about me?"

"That's not what happened. And I'm sorry."

She sighed. "There were three more murders last night."

"Three? Our same guy?"

"Yes. But two of the vics were Ephemerals."

"Fuck."

"Yeah. As soon as you can get here, please do, we've still got one of the crime scenes fairly well preserved, and I'd like you to look at it."

"Okay, yeah, I can be there now."

"Duo – the two Ephemerals. They were from my coven." Hilde's voice was neutral, but Duo knew that she had to be panicking.

"It doesn't necessarily mean anything," Duo told her. "It's not like there are that many covens in Las Vegas –"

"There are seventeen."

"Seventeen? How the hell did that many get started so fast?"

"There are a lot of Ephemerals out here. Not all of them live here, but they'll drive here from the desert for meetings."

"Did you know them, the two Ephemerals?"

"Not well. But I knew them, yes."

"Okay. I'll be at the gas station in fifteen minutes."

He hung up the phone and went back to the kitchen.

"I need to go to work," Duo told Heero.

"What do you want me to do about that?" Heero asked, nodding towards the bedroom.

"Don't kill him. And don't let him leave. I think he'll be fine – hell, I don't even know if he'll wake up before I get back." Duo sighed. "I'm sorry to give you babysitting duty, but he's got a lot to answer for, and I do not want to have to track him down."

"He'll still be here when you get back," Heero promised.

"And you too."

"I thought we already worked that out."

"We did – I was just checking."

Duo grinned crookedly and kissed Heero quickly, but the other man grabbed the back of his head and deepened the kiss. When Duo pulled away they were both breathing heavily.

"Here." Heero dug into his pocket and held out a pair of keys.

"What's this to?"

"My apology. I didn't know how angry you would be with me, after I left. I wanted to make amends."

"So you bought me a gift? You know I hate cars."

"It's a motorcycle."

Duo smiled.

"No way?"

"Yes. I know you used to have one – I don't know what happened to it."

"Same thing that happens to everything else in my life," Duo muttered.

"It's parked on the second floor of your parking garage."

"Thanks. But you didn't need to. Especially considering that I went out and found myself a Soul Mate while you were gone. I should be the one apologizing."

"I agree," Heero deadpanned and went back to making his omelets.

Duo pulled on a pair of boots, waved goodbye, and then headed out the door. When he reached the second floor parking garage he anticipated having to go on a hunt for the bike, but it was parked just across from the elevator.

It was a beautiful machine of black and red, a Ducati Diavel Carbon, and Duo fell in love with it instantly. He ran one hand over the smooth, solid body and shook his head. Heero had really gone out of his way with this, and Duo felt insanely guilty that he was about to hop on this beauty while Heero was stuck babysitting a man that neither of them wanted much to do with.

Even the helmet was gorgeous, sold black with this silver swirls of lightning on the sides.

The ride over to the gas station was amazing. Duo had forgotten just how much he enjoyed riding a bike. It had been twenty years since the last time he owned one, and for the life of him he couldn't imagine how he had functioned without one all this time.

He had woken up horribly depressed, but Heero and now Heero's bike had brightened Duo's day to the point where he felt confident he could interact with Wufei without immediately threatening to kill him.

Of course, Wufei put that to the test as soon as he walked inside.

"Catherine Bloom has been calling my phone every hour since dawn. What did you find out?"

Of any of the fights Wufei could have picked, that wasn't one Duo had counted on.

"Her brother is alive. For now."

Wufei scowled. "That's it? I thought you had some sort of in with the Council – was that really all you could find out? What about the other shape shifters? Any chance you figured out how we can charge the Council with murder?"

"You know what, Wufei, if you care that much – why don't you use your in with the Council and call up your wife?"

Wufei's fist caught him just below his right left eye, and Duo felt the skin split at the force of the blow.

"Well, if you've got that out of your system, maybe you can remember that you are a professional and that your subordinates are watching," Duo said calmly.

He swiped at the cut, catching a trickle of blood on the back of his hand.

Wufei continued to glare at him and he was breathing heavily.

Hilde finally showed up and stepped between them.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" She demanded as she dragged both of them into her cubicle.

"He started it," Duo pointed out.

"I – you're the one who can't –"

"I don't care," Hilde interrupted. "I do not fucking care. Get over yourselves. We have a serial killer on the loose and he's getting bolder and more powerful. And we have the murder and assault of several shape shifters to investigate. So, if the two of you can find some room in your busy schedule of pissing matches, I could use some help."

Duo arched an eyebrow at Wufei, waiting for him to give in. Wufei just glared back at him. Hilde flung up her hands in defeat.

"Fine. Whatever. Duo, you're coming with me and we're going to the scene of the latest murder. Wufei, since you're so friendly with Catherine Bloom why don't you call her and see if you can convince her or any of the others to press charges or at least make an official statement."

Before either man could protest, Hilde dragged Duo out of her office and out of the gas station. Once out in the sunlight she turned on him.

"Stop acting like a five year old!"

"What – I'm not –"

"Yes, you are. You know that he hates you and so you're just goading him. But you are a thousand years old. You should know better." She held his gaze until he was forced to sigh and nod.

"Okay. I'm sorry."

"Good. Apology accepted. Let me get us a car and we can be on our way."

"Actually, you should grab a helmet." Duo jerked a thumb at his new motorcycle. "Now that I've got this baby, I am not getting back into one of those moving coffins unless I have to."

Hilde looked on the verge of fighting, but the shrugged and retreated back into the gas station. A moment later she came out holding a solid black motorcycle helmet.

Duo climbed onto the bike and waited for her to get on behind him and wrap her arms around his waist before he started the clutch. They were instantly off in a roar of sound, and Duo had to strain to hear Hilde yelling directions at him over the sound of the wind.

After twenty minutes try arrived at a very rundown apartment complex and Duo regretted having to leave the bike unattended in such a neighborhood. To ensure that it was still there when they were done, he threw up a quick set of very nasty wards around the machine that would shock anyone who touched it. Hilde shook her head at his behavior but let it pass without comment.

"So, what did happen to you last night?" She asked as she led them up a flight of stairs.

"Remember that Soul Mate of mine I told you about?"

"The one who stood you up."

"Yeah, well, apparently he didn't choose to stand me up. See, at the time, he was in the loving care of Treize Khushrenada, who was torturing him for trying to start an illegal pack."

It took Hilde a moment to make the connection.

"Holy shit."

"Yeah. I know. So last night, I go to Treize's party, and on my way out he asks me to punish his favorite pet. I agree, and then I get to spend the rest of my night whipping Trowa. What you felt last night was his pain, which, because we're sort of bonded together, I got to feel. I'm sorry that it kept going down the line to you."

"You – you tortured your own Soul Mate."

"Yes."

"That's – "

"Trust me when I say that I didn't torture him nearly enough. As soon as he's conscious again I'm really going to kick his ass."

"But he's your Soul Mate."

"He's also a liar and he could have gotten me killed."

"I don't understand."

Duo shrugged. "I don't either."

"So who was the guy guarding your door this morning?"

"My pool boy?" Duo repeated with a smirk. "He's an old friend – and – I guess he's my boyfriend?" It felt bizarre to describe Heero in that sense. Their relationship went far beyond simply dating, but at the same time – it didn't. He sighed. "It's complicated."

Hilde shook her head and gave another angry sigh but she opened a door that had been literally covered in yellow police tape.

As soon as he stepped inside Duo could feel the magic in the air. It was hovering like a dark, cold toxic cloud.

"Son of a bitch. This just got a lot worse."

"No kidding. You haven't even seen the circle yet."

Judging from the residual magic in the air, Duo was pretty certain that he did not want to see the circle at all, but he followed Hilde deeper into the apartment.

The ritual circle had been set up in the living room, and even now, hours after the circle had died down, there was a faint ring of magic that marked the spot. That, combined with the blood soaked carpet, made it pretty hard to miss.

"Holy shit." Duo approached the circle and looked at the naked body that was spread eagle in the circle. There wasn't a single cut on her skin anywhere, but her skin was a pasty blue white, and the blood around her had to be hers.

"What did this?" Hilde asked him.

"The hell if I know. I haven't see a spell like this used in centuries – not since the Inquisition."

"How was it used then?"

"A few of the priests were Ephemerals, and they used to use this spell to try and force demons out of people. They didn't really understand what they were doing – they thought that their magic came from God, and that any Ephemeral who wasn't a priest was inhabited by Satan or a Demon. So they used this to exorcise the spirit. Usually – obviously – it just killed the victim." Duo shook his head as he surveyed the girl. "How powerful was she? Do you know?"

"Not as powerful as me, but she wasn't the weakest member of the coven, not by a lot. She had also been practicing magic for years – she was a Wiccan."

Duo frowned. "What about the other woman? From your coven? Was she a Wiccan too?"

"Um – yes. Yes she was. But where's the connection? The other women weren't Wiccan, or Ephemerals."

"No, I know. But they were prostitutes, right?"

"Yeah. But these two weren't."

"But they were still sinners."

"I don't understand."

"All of this – the circles, the bodies, the choice in female victims – ALL of this is just like it was before. Even now, with this Ephemeral. He didn't cut her up, he just exorcised her magic and absorbed it into himself. The others – the nulls – he just needed their souls, he wasn't looking for magic yet. He was just trying to build up his strength."

"Duo, what are you talking about?"

"All of this has happened before! I worked with an Ephemeral who did this. All of this – it was his hobby."

"That's twisted. Wait, you mentioned this before. You said he was trying to save their souls."

"Yeah. But this – this isn't him. It can't be."

"Why not?"

"Because he died five hundred years ago. This has to be some kind of copy cat or someone who knew him."

"Okay, so… who knew him?"

"Me and a handful of the Council." Duo ran a hand through his bangs. His burgeoning good mood was completely gone now. "I just don't understand WHY. This started before I got to town, so it can't be someone fucking with me. There's got to be more to it."

"Why did you friend do it? Aside from saving their souls, obviously?"

"He absorbed their power, if they were Ephemerals, and the nulls – they made him younger and stronger. It's how he managed to live for so long."

"Yeah, sounds like a real winner there."

Duo frowned, but decided not to argue the point. His head was a swirl of emotion as he tried to fight off memories of the past.

"So we need to know what Ephemerals in the area have recently started to get stronger," Duo instructed Hilde. "Very carefully, question Sylvia's servant – and Zechs', whoever that is – but do not question Noin's or Treize's."

Hilde shrugged. "I can do that. Margaret talks enough for everyone else anyway."

"Please be careful – and do not mention the shape shifters. Let Wufei take the heat for that."

Hilde sneered. "He'll be happy to. Now that his new girlfriend needs help."

Duo arched an eyebrow at her tone.

"Catherine Bloom – he won't shut UP about her! Ever since yesterday afternoon in Quatre's office. It's so pathetic!"

Duo patted her on the shoulder.

"Cheer up. She's a self centered, devious bitch and he deserves her."

Hilde frowned. "I don't think she's that bad."

"Yeah well, her brother is…" he sighed. "I'll give you a ride back to the gas station."

When Duo dropped Hilde off, he cautioned her again about questioning the Council servants.

"You be careful too," Hilde told him. She tugged on his braid. "Try to stay out of trouble for twenty-four hours, will you?"

"Yeah, I'll try," Duo grumbled.

When he arrived back at the condo he parked the bike and carried the helmet up with him. Outside his door he paused, and then cursed himself as a coward.

He unlocked the door and strode inside, projecting as much confidence as he could.

Heero was sitting on the living room couch reading a book, and Duo realized that he had never seen the assassin relax before. He had never seen Heero read, watch television, anything that wasn't work related.

"Hey," Duo greeted him.

Heero looked up, his face closed and cautious.

"How was work?" Heero asked.

Duo shrugged. "There's some serial killer who has been killing prostitutes with magic but just murdered two Wiccan Ephemerals last night. And whoever it is is killing people just like Solo used to."

"Solo – your partner in the Brotherhood who died five hundred years ago?"

"Yeah. Him." Duo sat down on the couch beside Heero. "How was babysitting?"

Heero scowled. "The wounds are still healing – he should be able to function in another day or two."

"Is he awake yet?"

"What happened to your face?" Heero asked instead of answering.

Duo rubbed at his cheek where Wufei had punched him. The cut had scabbed over, and by tomorrow would be nearly gone.

"Gift from a friend."

"And you think I have bad friends," Heero muttered. He reached out and ran his thumb over the cut.

"Thanks for the bike, by the way. She's a beauty."

Heero smirked and pulled Duo to him.

"You're welcome," Heero said just before their lips met.

Duo was starting to enjoy this new side of Heero – gone was the moment of hesitation, gone was the tension and underlying anger that Duo always had to soothe away before Heero would start to feel comfortable.

Duo crawled onto Heero, straddling his hips and pressing against his chest, eager for the contact of Heero's warm, hard body beneath his own.

Heero's hands worked their way under Duo's shirt, and Duo momentarily broke away from the kiss to lean back so that Heero could pull off his shirt.

Duo grinned at the look of desire in Heero's half lidded eyes.

"You've got to admit, this is a lot more fun when we don't beat the shit out of each other first."

He kissed Heero again, tasting the other man and delving into the warm cavern of his mouth. Heero moaned into his mouth and ground their hips together.

Duo started to reach for the fly of Heero's pants, but the other man pushed him backwards until Duo was laying on his back on the couch. Above him now, Heero started to undo his jeans. He jerked first the jeans and then Duo's boxers down.

"Heero – fuck!" The other man took Duo's entire length into his mouth and Duo groaned at the incredible feeling of Heero sucking on him.

In almost no time, Duo's hips were arching up to meet Heero's mouth, and he could feel his climax building. The pleasure was intense, and after so many days of pain and tension, Duo desperately needed the relief.

Heero ran his teeth gently over the underside of Duo's cock, and that finished him. He exploded into the other man's mouth with a relieved, satisfied gasp. His head fell back on the couch and Duo closed his eyes, enjoying the way his entire body felt boneless.

"That was amazing," Duo said. He sat up and kissed Heero again, tasting himself on the other man's tongue.

As he pulled away, he noticed that they were no longer alone.

"Heero, when I asked you if Trowa was awake yet, and you didn't answer me. Would the answer have been yes?"

"He got up once," Heero agreed. He turned to follow Duo's gaze.

Trowa was standing in the doorway. He looked incredibly angry and incredibly aroused.

"Twice," Heero corrected.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Nine

Duo decided that the conversation they were about to have necessitated him having pants on, so he shoved Heero off of him and awkwardly pulled his boxers and jeans back on. He noticed Trowa watching him as he did so, and Heero watching Trowa.

"Sorry if we woke you," Duo muttered, feeling inexplicably guilty that Trowa had caught them in the act.

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"Oh no, it felt wonderful. I loved feeling your pleasure as he gave you a blow job." The sneer on his face and the anger in his voice made the sarcasm quite obvious.

"Do you really think that you're in any position to be snarky right now?" Duo asked.

"You're my Soul Mate."

"And you're a shape shifter who belongs to a vampire who has worked very hard to make my life miserable for the last few hundred years. So, I'm sorry, but fuck you."

"I am a shape shifter and I'm also an alpha. I do not share well."

Duo's jaw dropped.

"Are you serious? Do you have any idea how little I care about what you want? I don't give a damn if you're jealous. Deal with it."

"You never mentioned him."

"You never mentioned being a shape shifter. Do not get into a who fucked up the most contest with me right now," Duo warned him. He sighed. "Besides, we need to talk. You have a lot of explaining to do."

"Is there a point? I thought your plan was to kill me."

"Right now – yeah, that's still looking like my top choice. But I still want to know what the hell has been going on, so you're going to tell me."

Trowa's green eyes narrowed at Duo's commanding tone.

"Can I at least have some clothes?"

Duo momentarily debated with himself, but decided that it would be incredibly petty to make Trowa stand in front of them naked. He sighed and got up.

Trowa followed him back into the bedroom, and Duo tried his best to ignore him as he rifled through his drawers for the pair of basketball shorts he knew were buried in them somewhere.

He felt the touch of Trowa's fingers on his neck before he even realized the other man was that close. Duo spun just as a feeling of golden electricity arced between them. He glared up at Trowa.

"Don't do that," he warned.

Trowa looked smug. "Don't do what? This?" Trowa touched him again, tracing his jaw line and his lips. Duo leaned into the touch before he could catch himself and Trowa kissed him.

Duo was instantly suffused with that same golden pleasure and the taste of cinnamon he had felt before. It took a supreme effort to pull away from the kiss.

"Stay the fuck away from me," Duo told him and finally found the shorts. He threw them at Trowa and slammed the drawer closed. "Do not touch me, and do not kiss me again."

"You want me to touch you," Trowa pointed out.

"No, I really don't. This damn bond we have does. And this bond has nothing to do with how I really feel about you." Duo spun on his heel and stalked out of the room.

Heero was still sitting on the couch and Duo glared at him.

"You wanted him to walk in on us, didn't you?" Duo demanded.

Heero shrugged. "I wanted you. Having him see us together was a bonus. I won't pretend that it wasn't advantageous, or that I didn't enjoy seeing his anger, but that isn't why I did it."

Duo sighed and sat back down beside him. He appreciated Heero's typically brutal honesty, and he was glad that the other man was not as coldly manipulative as Trowa clearly was.

Trowa rejoined them, the basketball shorts slung very low on his hips, no doubt to avoid coming into contact with the fresh scars on his back. Duo could see his lion tattoo and it set off a fresh wave of anger. He felt like sharing it, and he shoved it in Trowa's direction. The other man flinched but remained silent and standing.

"Well," Duo said after he had released enough of his anger to feel like talking again, "I think introductions are in order."

"He's already made it very clear who he is," Trowa said with a glare in Heero's direction.

Duo noticed that Heero looked very smug.

"Actually, I meant you. Who the fuck are you really?"

Trowa sighed, but met Duo's eyes steadily.

"I go by the name of Trowa Barton – "

"What's your real name?" Duo knew that a lot of Old Ones changed their names with the times, to fit in better with their surroundings, but he had always clung to his own.

" Nandana Dyu-Loka."

Duo could understand why Trowa had decided to change his name from that mouthful.

"It's Sanskrit."

"What does it mean?" Heero asked.

"Heavenly child."

"Right – Treize said something about you being the son of Vishnu?"

"Narashima, one of Vishnu's incarnations, yes."

"And?" Duo demanded.

"I told you that my family were descended from Gypsies, and that there was a myth about a woman who fell in love with the wrong man."

"Yeah – hence our lovely bond together as Soul Mates."

"That woman was my mother, and the man was Narashima, the lion god. My sister and I are the only lions descended from him."

"So you aren't descended from Gypsies – you are one."

"Yes. My grandfather was the first Rom Baro. All of the Romani in the world are descended from my family."

Duo shook his head.

"So you're some ancient Gypsy prince slash demi-god shape shifter. Yeah – remember that time when I told you I was a Dark Court Faerie? That might have been a good time to tell me this shit."

Trowa's eyes narrowed.

"The minute I told you who I was you would have turned away and never looked back."

"You're damn right I would have!"

"I couldn't let that happen."

"You what?"

"I needed you on our side."

Duo could feel a headache starting at the back of his skull.

"I need some tea," he muttered and rose from the couch. He put on a kettle of water and then came back into the living room.

"You needed me on your side. I'm guessing your side means the side of your very illegal pack."

"Yes. Catherine said that you were intractable, so I knew that I wouldn't be able to convince you to join our cause unless you became involved before you had the chance to say no."

"Fucking hell. So you and your crazy sister hatched a plan to have you whore yourself out and use me to –"

"No," Trowa interrupted, his voice harsh. "No. Catherine doesn't know about us. No one does."

"Not Treize?"

"What do you think?"

"I think I don't know, and I sure as hell don't trust you."

"If Treize knew that you were my Soul Mate do you really think he would have let you stop at twenty five lashes last night?"

It was a good point, and one that Duo had considered already.

"You said you were a Gypsy – what kind of magic do you have?"

For a moment it looked as if Trowa wasn't going to respond.

"As soon as you stop answering my questions I'm going to start thinking of the best way to kill you while he," Duo jerked his thumb in Heero's direction, "starts thinking of the best way to dispose of your body."

"I've already got that covered," Heero assured him.

Duo's lips twisted into a grim smile at the eagerness in Heero's voice. The kettle started to shrilly whistle, and Duo retreated back to the kitchen to prepare his tea. When he came back out, Trowa had moved so that he was sitting on his knees beside one of the armchairs. It looked like a pose of defeat or supplication, but the hard, determined set to Trowa's face banished any impression that Trowa was bowing down to either Duo or Heero.

With his back still more or less open wounds, Duo doubted that Trowa was able to sit comfortably in any position, and he was still exhausted and both physically and magically drained. It had to be an effort to remain conscious at all.

"So, you were about to tell me about your magic," Duo said. He rejoined Heero on the couch.

"I'm very good at illusions and suggestions."

Duo nodded. "Like making someone believe you're human."

"No. Yes," Trowa said after a sigh. "Like that, or like convincing Quatre to bring you along to our dinner."

"So you set up the set up."

"Yes."

"And made me like you."

"No. My magic does not work on you."

Duo snorted in disbelief.

"Right."

"It doesn't – or him either," Trowa said, flicking his gaze to Heero.

"And I should believe you why?"

"If it did he would be using it on us right now," Heero pointed out.

Duo turned to scowl at him, but Heero shrugged.

"Unlike you, I don't need to find a reason to keep him alive. I'm happy to kill him now – and he knows that. If he could convince me to like him or even to just leave, he would do that. The same with you – how is it in his best interests to have you planning ways to kill him? If he could, wouldn't he just make you forgive him?"

Duo frowned, but the argument was logical.

"So your magic doesn't work on us. Why? Well – no, I know why it doesn't work on Heero. Why doesn't it work on me?"

"Why doesn't it work on him?" Trowa asked instead of answering.

"I'm a null," Heero said.

"I noticed, but my magic works best on nulls."

"I'm a true null. Magic literally has no effect on me, ever. It bounces off."

Trowa frowned and looked to Duo for confirmation.

"Yep. It's part of what makes him so damned good at hunting down and killing Old Ones. That's his job – in case he didn't tell you."

"He mentioned something along those lines," Trowa muttered.

Duo was really curious about whatever confrontation these two had had before he returned home, and he made a mental note to ask Heero for more details later.

"So, why doesn't your magic work on me? Is it because of our bond?"

"No, it never worked on you." Trowa's eyes took on a calculating look. "You said you were half Dark Court, but that you didn't know what else you were."

"Yeah."

"I do. And I think that's why my magic doesn't work on you."

Duo arched one eyebrow in disbelief. "And you're going to blackmail me into keeping you alive if you tell me? No deal, I really don't care – and again, I don't really trust you."

"You seem to think that I planned this entire thing to my own advantage."

"Didn't you?"

"No."

"Right – okay, you didn't have Quatre set us up?"

"I did."

"And every time I tried to break up with you and you wouldn't let me – that wasn't part of your plan either?"

"It was."

"And you slept with me because you needed me to be involved with you, so that I would care about your cause."

"Yes," Trowa admitted.

Duo nodded. "Right. So I'm really curious about the part where you didn't plan this to your advantage."

"How is it to my advantage to be in love with the man who is literally the monster under the bed? As soon as Treize brought my sister and me to his court eighty seven years ago he started to threaten us with you. Every shape shifter that steps out of line is reminded that you still exist and that you spent centuries hunting down any shape shifter bold enough or stupid enough to try and earn their freedom. Why would it be to my advantage to be bonded to a Jinn? The one race that my magic doesn't work on. The race that first enslaved shape shifters and sold us as chattel. Why would that be to my advantage? I never believed in that Soul Mate bullshit – I've lived for almost six thousand years and I've never felt a glimmer of a magical bond with one of my lovers. If I thought there was any chance that it was real and that I would be bonded to you I never would have slept with you. I wanted to hate you, I wanted you to be the monster that Treize promised me you were. My plan was to keep you interested in me, my plan was never to care about you."

Trowa looked furious by the end of his speech, and Duo could feel his anger and frustration through their connection.

"You're in love with me? After three dates." Just because Trowa couldn't use his magic to convince Duo to believe him didn't mean that the man couldn't lie his ass off.

"You took Martha Vendomme's punishment when you didn't have to. You hate her, and she hates you, but you stepped in and took her punishment." Trowa closed his eyes and shook his head. "Believe me when I say that I wanted to hate you, and that I tried very hard to hate you. But after that… yes, it was my plan to sleep with you, but after you sacrificed yourself – after what you told me about Solo – I wanted to. You weren't just a pawn anymore."

"But you still didn't think it was the right time to tell me about who you were," Duo pointed out.

"If I had – what would have happened that night?"

Duo frowned. "I would have kicked you out."

"I couldn't let that happen."

"So when were you planning on telling me?" Duo asked.

"My pack met on Tuesday night. We discussed our options. There are some who want to pursue a legal route, and others who simply want to wage war on the Council and prove that we are strong enough to gain our independence whether they like it or not."

"I can guess which side Martha is on," Duo muttered.

Trowa smirked, and Duo hated that he found himself wanting to respond to the look.

"Before your return, most of the pack was in favor of a violent approach, but since you are back and Treize and the other Council Members can use you as a threat again, many of the pack have begun to doubt our chances to succeed either way. I've been pushing the pack towards taking the legal approach and petitioning the Arbiter, but now many of them are afraid that you will kill any shape shifter who dares to speak to the Arbiter. My original plan was to have YOU fall for me and then I could convince you that shape shifters weren't evil, and then, once you were neutralized, we could move forward with our plans."

"Uh huh. I really think that you're overestimating my importance in all of this."

Trowa's eyes narrowed.

"That first night, when you and Quatre came before the Council, Treize wanted me there so that I could see you. That night, after he beat me and while he fucked me, he promised that you would finally put me in my place. He talked about Deathscythe like it was a lover."

Duo swallowed hard. He could feel Trowa's anger, his self-loathing, and his hatred of Treize through their connection. He refused to let it sway him.

"He wasn't the only one who rejoiced at having you back – all of the Council members started to taunt their pets."

"That's why Martha attacked Alexios," Duo realized.

Trowa nodded. "He threatened to send her to you if she didn't learn to behave."

"I'm not the Executioner anymore! I don't do that shit anymore."

"You did last night."

"I had to! You're trying to form a pack!"

"We already have. I've been acknowledged as the alpha and we've run together under a full moon. We are a pack." There was open defiance in Trowa's green eyes.

Duo groaned. "The Council will execute you for this."

"Probably, but at least I tried. Maybe my death will galvanize Quatre into action."

Duo looked at him in disbelief.

"That's it? You're just going to give up? You aren't going to try and convince me to keep you alive or join your cause? You aren't going to keep fighting Treize?"

"My days are numbered, they were as soon as we bonded." The resignation and conviction in Trowa's voice was hauntingly reminiscent of Anthony's voice when he had accepted Duo's punishment.

"I don't understand."

"As soon as Treize finds out that we are Soul Mates my life is forfeit. He hates you more than he desires me, and if he can punish you by killing me then he will."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't really planning on marching up to him and telling him about us," Duo pointed out.

"You won't have to say anything. If he hadn't been so intent on my pain he would have already figured it out last night. I could feel every emotion and thought in your head. I know how much it hurt you to do that to me. What happens when he has you punish me again – or worse, when he has you punish me in front of the entire Council? Zechs, Noin, and Sylvia know you just as well as he does, and they would be able to see it on your face."

"Again, I'm not the Executioner anymore. It's not my job to punish you or anyone else for the Council."

"Then why –"

"If your magic doesn't work on me, then why didn't I realize you were a shape shifter – does Quatre know?" Duo changed the subject because he didn't feel like rehashing this argument. He could have put a quick end to it by admitting the truth – that wielding Deathscythe as it stripped away Trowa's flesh was one of the most awful experiences of his life and he would NEVER do it again – but he didn't want Trowa to know he had that kind of advantage over Duo.

"Quatre doesn't know." Trowa shrugged. "As I said, I'm almost six thousand years old. I learned to hide my powers because it was advantageous to do so."

"Your sister doesn't."

"My sister doesn't need or want to. She also… she inherited our father's magic but not our mother's. In many ways she is the most pure shape shifter in this world, and if she isn't stupid, she will likely live forever. But she can't control magic the way the Romani can. I don't think she could hide her power. It takes too much self control – it's way Quatre can hide his but you can't."

"That and I really don't want to," Duo pointed out. He sighed. "Okay, enough questions – for now. You should probably shift forms, you know. It would speed the healing process."

"I can't," Trowa bit out.

"I thought you were an alpha – can't you change at will?"

"Yes, but I still can't feel my magic. It's like some kind of wall is between me and my animal. My Romani magic is fine – but I can't feel my animal."

"Well that's not good."

"No, it isn't."

"I think you should call Sally Po – is she back in town yet?"

Trowa nodded. "She should be. Catherine would have called her by now I'm sure."

Duo sighed at the thought of Catherine storming into his condo.

"You do not have to tell my sister about any of this," Trowa told him, as if he could read his mind.

"Pretty sure she's going to know something is up when you show up in three days with your back ruined."

"I'll tell her what she needs to know, but she does not need to know about you."

"Worried she won't approve of the company you've been keeping?"

"I know she doesn't. Convincing her, Martha, and Ralph to heal you was one of the most difficult things I've done as their alpha."

"You had them heal me?"

Trowa gave him a hard look. "I already explained this part."

Duo sighed. "Fine, fine, call Sally." He handed Trowa his phone and then leaned back on the couch to finish his tea. He looked over at Heero, who seemed to be taking all of this remarkably well.

"She'll be here in half an hour," Trowa said after a brief phone conversation. He handed the phone back to Duo.

"What do you know about the contract on Duo's life?" Heero asked him, obviously deciding that it was his turn to interrogate Trowa.

"There's a contract out on your life?" Trowa asked.

"Um, yeah, by one of my many friends."

"When was it put out?"

"Same day that I arrived in Vegas."

Trowa's eyes narrowed.

"And that wasn't something you wanted to mention to me before now?"

Duo sneered. "Now that you mention it, yeah, I probably should have told you that during one of my attempts to break up with you. That probably would have worked."

Trowa turned from Duo to look back at Heero.

"I don't know anything about it, but that doesn't mean it isn't related to the Council. Treize only uses me as decoration. He knows that he can't trust me, so he keeps me out of his plans."

"If he doesn't trust you then why does he allow you in his bed?" Heero asked.

Duo winced at that question, and he saw Trowa's eyes narrow.

"Heero, I wouldn't – "

"Treize enjoys knowing that someone as old and powerful as I am has to submit to him and accept his torture. It isn't a matter of allowing me into his bed, he forces me into it."

"If you are so old and powerful, why doesn't he worry about you rebelling and killing him?"

A muscle in Trowa's jaw jumped, and his eyes hardened to that same, empty look that he wore when he was a lion.

Duo sighed.

"Actually, I want to know this part too. Treize enjoys a bit of a thrill, so I know he likes knowing there's a possibility that his bedmate is going to fight back, but he doesn't want there to be any real chance of that happening – and if he doesn't trust you, and if you have a habit of rebelling, why doesn't he think that you will?"

"Treize has no interest in females."

"Yeah…"

"When he first brought my sister and I to his court, he wanted to pass her around as a reward to those Council members who DID enjoy women. After Alexios had his way with her and nearly killed her, I attacked Treize and threatened to castrate him if he didn't leave Catherine alone. I made a deal with him – I would allow him to do whatever he wanted to me so long as Catherine was ONLY used as decoration and never as a plaything."

Duo had a pretty clear mental picture of how that negotiation had gone down, and he was both horrified and impressed.

"What do you know about the serial killer – and don't tell me nothing because if half the Council and their servants know, they surely you do because the Council loves to gossip."

Trowa shrugged and then winced at sharp pain that gesture caused.

"Only gossip. Noin and Zechs talk about him the most – they are afraid he's getting too powerful."

"Do they know who he is?"

"They talk like they do, but they never mention his name." Trowa closed his eyes as he tried to think, but then he shook his head and opened his eyes."He's from the Old World… and he's an Ephemeral. Sometimes they talk about him like they do you – they're afraid of him, of what he used to do."

"But he isn't part of the Council – or one of the Council's servants?"

Trowa hesitated and then shook his head.

"No, not that I've seen."

Duo sighed, it had been worth a shot.

"You said that I was a…Jinn? Aren't those genies or something?" Duo had never encountered a Jinn before, and he didn't' know much about them.

"That's how nulls think of them," Trowa agreed. "The Muslims believe that God created Angels, Jinn, and humans. The Jinn are wild spirits, they mostly lived in the desert. Their magic is very wild and very elemental."

"Like a dryad?"

"Not really. Dryads are tied to a sacred plant – Jinns really are just spirits. They take a corporeal form when it suits them, but they can also exist as just…magical ether."

Duo frowned.

"And the Jinn enslaved shape shifters?"

"Yes. The Jinn are resistant to a lot of magic, especially magic that deals with the senses."

"Like your magic."

"Exactly. It makes them very good at seeing creatures for what they really are. The Jinn are also extremely powerful. All of the best slave traders were Jinn."

"Wait – were?"

"Most of the Jinn are dead. You're the first I've encountered in eight hundred years."

"What happened to them?"

"Humans. That's where that idea of genies comes from – Ephemerals started to trap the Jinn in silver vessels, and used them to make themselves more powerful. But a Jinn can't live in a silver lamp for long, and they died. They were hunted down to extinction, essentially." There was a measure of triumph in Trowa's voice.

There was a knock on the front door, and Duo rose from the couch to answer the door. He really hoped that it was Sally Po, because he was not up to dealing with Wufei at the moment.

Thankfully it was the dryad, and she entered the condo with a slight frown of confusion on her face.

"Duo?"

"Hey, Sally, thanks for stopping by."

"But –"

"Sally, it's okay," Trowa spoke up. He rose to his feet, and he projected a calm sense of confidence that was infectious. Duo saw Sally relax into it, and even felt some of his own tension drain away.

"What's going on?" She asked, her gaze flicking to Heero's silent form on the couch.

"Oh, nothing much," Duo said casually. "Just found out that my Soul Mate is a demi-god shape shifter. Who, incidentally, I almost killed last night and now he can't shift into his lion form to heal himself."

Sally's eyes went wide and went from Duo to Trowa's face.

"Trowa?"

With a sigh, Trowa turned around and gave Sally a clear view of his back.

"Oh – Trowa." She crossed the room and ran her hand over his back, her fingers hovering just over his wounds. "Oh, Trowa. What did this?"

"The same thing that scarred Duo," Trowa told her as he turned back around.

Sally frowned. "And you can't shift into your animal?"

Trowa shook his head. "I can't even feel it."

She sighed. "Let's get you lying down, first. This movement isn't good for your wounds." She took his arm and dragged him back into the bedroom. With a sigh, Duo followed, Heero close behind him.

"How did your back heal?" Sally asked Duo.

"A Light Court Faery healed me. It used up a lot of his magic."

She nodded and turned back to Trowa, now lying prone on the bed once again.

"He's your Soul Mate?" Sally asked Trowa. The question earned her a glare from the green eyed man.

"The bond isn't complete," Duo added. "We haven't shared blood."

"If you're really interested in healing him, the best way to do it would be to complete the bond."

"No," all three men responded at once.

Sally arched an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because I don't trust him – and I'm still on the fence about whether or not I'm going to kill him. There's no way in hell I'm bonding myself any closer to him. Plus I hate him."

"Who are you?" Sally asked Heero.

"He's my lover," Duo said after Heero hesitated. "Also my best friend."

"And he gets a say in this?"

"Yes," Duo and Heero agreed.

"And why do you say no?" Sally asked.

"Magical bonds are rarely equal partnerships. There is almost always a stronger and weaker partner. I'm not convinced that Duo would be able to resist him if they completed their bond."

It was a good point, even if it was a bit insulting. Heero even looked vaguely apologetic as he said it.

Sally shook her head.

"Soul Mates don't work like that – the entire point of the bond is that you are equals. You are literally two halves of the same whole. The bond would never have formed between two individuals who weren't equals and who didn't feel strongly for each other. You can't hate him," she added as she looked at Duo.

"I didn't then," Duo agreed, "but I sure as hell do now."

She turned to Trowa. "And what is your complaint?"

"There's no point in both of us dying."

"Oh Trowa," she reached out and ran a hand through his hair.

"What is he talking about?" Heero asked.

Duo had a pretty good idea of what Trowa was implying. He sighed and explained.

"Soul Mates, if their bond is strong enough, can share emotions, thoughts, physical sensations – all of that. If one of them dies, most of the time, the other dies as well. In our case, judging by how strong our bond already is, I'm going to say that if we fully bonded and one of us died the other would follow pretty quickly." Duo frowned as he realized that it would actually be a good strategy for Trowa – there was no way Duo could kill him if they were fully bonded Soul Mates. He met Trowa's green gaze. "So why don't you want to finish the bond? It would be your get out of jail free card."

"We're too powerful for our bond not to be obvious to the Council. My entire pack felt it when we were together before – and that was when our bond first formed. If the bond was complete…"

Duo flushed at the thought of an entire pack of shape shifters feeling both Trowa and him orgasm. Then again, Hilde had felt the same.

"Treize would kill you," Heero supplied.

"Yes, and there's no point in both of us dying." Trowa turned back to Sally. "Is there anything you can do? Do you know why I can't shift?"

"I don't know. I'll try." Sally sat down on the edge of the bed beside Trowa and ran her hands just above his back.

Duo could feel her magic layering over Trowa, as though it were a blanket, trying to soothe and protect him. After a moment she sighed.

"I've seen this before, when a magic user experiences a trauma like this. Your magic is essentially shutting down – it's trying to isolate the source of the damage and keep it from spreading. My guess is that whatever did this to your back was cursed?"

Duo nodded. "Deathsycthe has more curses and dark enchantments on it than people even know exist."

"But your magic wasn't affected this badly by it – do you know if anyone else has been?"

Duo frowned. "To be honest, I can't name another Old One who has survived this much damage from Deathscythe. Trowa got something like five times what the harshest punishment with the whip usually is. I'm surprised he's alive at all."

"It's because of you," Sally said. "It's your bond – YOU were the one who fed magic into the whip's curses, right?"

"Yeah, that's how it works."

"Because of that, and because of your bond, the curses went deeper into Trowa. You nearly destroyed his magic."

Duo swallowed hard. He found her words hard to believe – but he had felt Trowa's golden glow start to dim last night and it had not grown any stronger since.

"Can we fix it?"

"He needs a large surge of magical energy. Like the full moon – "

"That's two weeks away," Duo pointed out.

"Or being with his pack –"

"No, Treize will kill them," Trowa interrupted.

"Or completing the bond with his Soul Mate."

"No," Heero said, his voice firm.

Sally signed. "Okay, then just let him die. Because that is what is going to happen. He's going to continue to get weaker – all of his magic, his Romani magic – is trying to heal his wounds, and his shifter magic is locked away. He's going to burn out and he's going to die. So, if being so stubborn is that important to you three, then fine." She glared at each of them in turn.

"Sally –" Trowa started.

"Don't tell me that it isn't worth the effort. You are the alpha of the only pack of shape shifters in the United States. Without you, there would be no hope for the others – they would be condemned to a life of servitude to the Council. They need you. If you don't care about your own life, at least think about them. Think about Catherine. And you," she whirled around and stabbed a finger into Duo's chest, "I told you that I trusted you to do the right thing. I still do. Soul Mates don't bond because of a passing affection. You care very deeply about him, despite what you say. Do you really want to lose someone else you care about?"

Duo's jaw dropped.

"That's not – how do you –"

"Everyone who deals with the Council knows about your Ephemeral," she continued, her voice still harsh, "and it doesn't take a genius to realize that there's a pattern with you and your lovers." She spared a glare in Heero's direction. "This is the one chance you have to actually save one of them, and you're hesitating."

"This is not the same as any of those situations," Duo growled.

"He's not Gavi either," Heero pointed out unhappily. Duo turned on him. "He's not," Heero repeated.

"How is this not like Gavi?"

"He didn't leave you to die, for one, and he never intended to hurt you. If anything he's been using you to hurt himself this entire time." Heero looked past Duo to Trowa, and there was a strange look in his eyes, as if he could understand the other man's actions.

"He lied to me and he betrayed me."

"He lied, but he never betrayed you."

"Yes –"

"Duo. How easy would it have been for him to go to Treize and tell him that he had the God of Death wrapped around his finger? How much would Treize have rewarded him for that? When Treize started to torture him – he could have ended all of that by just selling you out. He didn't."

"When did you join his side?" Duo demanded.

"I'm on YOUR side, and I think that he's more valuable as a potential ally than as a corpse. Especially if his death is going to hurt you in any way."

Duo sighed at the look of determination in Heero's eyes. He turned back to Sally.

"You can't just take my magic and give it to him? Like you did for me?"

She shook her head. "I tried to give him mine just now. He needs to be… cocooned in it."

Her choice of words brought back memories of the night Duo and Trowa had bonded. Cocooned was exactly how he had felt. He looked over at Trowa, and the look in his eyes made it clear that his mind had gone down the same path as Duo's.

"This is such bullshit," Duo muttered. He scrubbed his face with his hands. "Okay, thanks Sally, I think we can handle this."

"What are you –"

"I'm not going to let him die," he assured her and started to usher her out of his condo.

"Duo –"

"I promise. I won't let him die. And you – you won't tell anyone about this, right? Not his pack, not my friends? No one."

She arched one eyebrow at him in amusement. "Are you threatening me?"

"No, I'm asking you to help me protect him."

She looked impressed by his choice of words.

"Take care of him."

Duo rolled his eyes. "It looks like he manages to do a pretty good job of that all on his own," he told her.

"You'd be surprised," she argued.

After he locked the door behind her he returned to the bedroom.

"How is this going to work?" He asked. "Because our options are to complete our bond or to have sex. And I'm not a fan of either one."  
~ * ~


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

AN: A note for those of you who are deeply concerned about the very dead-ahead iceberg. And by iceberg, I mean the 1x2x3 threesome. If you are a die-hard 1x2 fan, I just want to point out that, you know, Duo and Trowa have already had sex in this fic – and they liked it – and if YOU made it this far reading it, YOU liked it too. It doesn't mean that Duo is suddenly going to forgive Trowa – or that a 1x2x3 relationship just magically (forgive the pun) happens, it has to develop. It also doesn't mean that Duo and Heero aren't going to still be mostly invested in each other. If you are a 3x4 fan, listen, Quatre in this fic is straight – so 3x4 is never going to happen. If you are concerned that a threesome is just crazy and not appropriate – again, it's not going to happen after one night of discussion, it's going to develop, and I really think that the groundwork has been there all along – at least, it was my intention for it to be there. For those of you who have a problem with Trowa – I have to apologize, because if you hate Trowa, then I have failed as a writer. I tried to present him as someone that was charming, witty, super hot, confident, and has almost as much emotional baggage as Duo and Heero. If you, the reader, doesn't find him broken yet lovable, then I haven't done my job, and I'm sorry about that.

 

" Umbra"

Chapter Ten

Heero was the first one to break the silence after Duo's declaration.

"Why do you have to have sex with him?"

Duo sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, as far away from Trowa as he could.

"If our bond was complete, we'd be able to share magic pretty easily, but since we isn't – and it won't be – then the other thing is sex. When we're together it unleashes a hell of a lot of magic." Duo frowned as a sudden thought occurred to him. "Before – were you still trying to control your magic and hide it from me?" He looked over at Trowa.

"Yes."

"Fuck." The magic that had been released their first time together had been impressive – but if Trowa had been hiding the full extent of his powers, Duo wondered just how powerful the shape shifter was.

"So you need to have sex to release magic, which would allow him to reconnect to his animal and be able to shift."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"You said something earlier today about your heartbeats being in sync."

Duo nodded. "Yeah – when we have sex, or when I'm torturing him apparently, we share emotions and physical sensations."

"What triggers the release of magic – when you have sex?"

"Orgasm."

"Both of you?"

Duo shrugged. "Not that I have that much evidence to go on, but it seems that when one of us comes, the other gets there too."

"So, as long as one of you comes, the other will too."

"Yeah – wait, earlier, when we woke you, did you get off?" Duo looked back at Trowa.

"No," Trowa growled.

"Why not?"

Trowa sighed. "I was close – but I'm pretty sure that my anger kept me from getting there. That and… I'm guessing you didn't feel anything the past two days that Treize had me tortured, did you?"

Duo shook his head in the negative.

"So I'm thinking it's also a proximity issue – I could feel your pleasure, but it wasn't as intense as our pleasure. But I don't agree with this plan," Trowa added and looked over at Heero.

"What is this plan?" Duo asked. "Something you two have already discussed?"

"No," Heero said. "But it seems logical that only one of you needs to orgasm for this to work, so long as the other is close enough."

Duo smirked. "So he doesn't actually need to be part of this."

"In theory," Trowa argued. "Probably we release magic when we're together because we are together – I doubt it will happen if you're with him and I just happen to be close by."

"Worth a shot though, isn't it?" Duo asked.

Trowa rolled his eyes. "What, exactly, is wrong with us having sex?"

"It would feel too much like me forgiving you – which I haven't and I won't."

"You will eventually," Trowa predicted.

"Of course he will, but it's going to take a while," Heero agreed.

Duo glared at both of them.

"If you two are so buddy buddy all of the sudden, why don't you two fuck?"

Heero looked over Trowa's body, and shrugged one shoulder.

"He's probably too weak for it to work – that woman said his magic was already drained," Heero speculated.

Duo rolled his eyes. He truly appreciated the clinical way that Heero approached life – judging and analyzing things from an objective perspective before reaching a conclusion – but sometimes it was frustrating.

"So back to plan A?"

Heero nodded.

"Great – so…I guess here on the bed?" Duo leaned back so that his weight was supported on his elbows. He smirked at Trowa, now only about a foot away from him. "Think this is close enough?"

Trowa's eyes narrowed dangerously. Duo could feel the other man's anger and frustration as Trowa pushed the emotions towards him through their connection. Duo grinned.

"I'll take that as a yes, then." Duo winked at Heero. "I think you're wearing too much, Heero."

Heero crossed to the bed, pulling off his t-shirt as he did. Duo sat up on his knees and reached for the other man, wrapping one hand around the back of his neck and bringing their mouths together as their bare chests met.

Duo let Heero control the kiss, enjoying the feel of the other man's tongue tangled with his own and the heat of his mouth. Heero's unique, piney scent filled Duo's nostrils and he breathed deeply, enjoying the clean, crisp fragrance. He started to undo Heero's jeans and eased them down his narrow hips.

Heero stepped out of them, still maintaining their kiss, and started to ease Duo back on the bed again. Duo ran his hands down Heero's back, finding that sensitive space just above his hips that had Heero arching into him. Duo nipped at his lower lip, and Heero groaned.

Through their connection, Duo could feel his own arousal start to affect Trowa. The bed shifted, and Duo looked over to see Trowa getting up. He pulled away from Heero's mouth.

"Where are you going?" He demanded.

"I'm not doing this," Trowa said and shook his head. "I'm not your plaything to punish like this."

"So you'd rather die than watch Heero and I together?"

Trowa's face froze. It was clear that he did not want to die, but that he found the current situation to be akin to torture.

"You won't let me die," Trowa pointed out. "If you were going to, you would have already."

"So you're going to wait me out?"

Trowa shrugged. Heero sat back on his heels, still straddling Duo's hips.

"Okay, sure. So, let's spend the next two days with you unable to heal yourself and your magic getting weaker." Duo frowned. "So… that means that you'll be missing from Treize's court for three days, from your pack for five. Now, I don't know your sister very well – and I really want to keep it that way – but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that she's going to panic if you don't show up soon. Martha, being Martha, is probably going to round up whatever shape shifters that will follow her and decide to attack Treize. So, at this point one of two things will happen. Either Martha - and again, I don't know your sister, but I'm sure she'd like to fight for you, so she'll be there too – and the others will face Treize and lose, or Treize will tell them that the last time he saw you was while I beat the living hell out of you with Deathscythe. So, guess what happens then? They come after me. So now we have two more possibilities. They try to kill me and we – because I'm pretty sure Heero would back me up on this – take them out. Or they get lucky and manage to kill us, after we've likely killed both Martha and your sister. So, maybe there would be enough of your pack left that they could heal you… but I'm guessing that Treize would probably exact vengeance for them having presumed to attack him in the first place."

Duo smirked. "So, yeah, if you want to wait me out, go for it."

"So you are just like the rest of them," Trowa sneered. "You really do think we're just animals to control."

"One – I've never pretended to like or trust shape shifters. That does not make me like the rest of the Council. Two, you're the one who fucked this up, not me, so do not get all pissy about the situation. This is how it is."

They glared at each other.

"Duo," Heero spoke up. Duo broke off his staring contest with Trowa and looked up at him. "Let him join us."

Duo stared at him in disbelief. He could feel Trowa's shock at the suggestion.

"Are you serious? You and I finally decide that we're serious and the same day you want to invite another man – a man we both wanted to kill just a few hours ago – into our bed?"

"You want him – don't bother denying it. You've never been involved with a human before, but you wanted to be with him."

"Things have sort of changed. For one, it turns out he's not a human."

Heero shrugged. "He still has the same body – for the most part." Duo winced at that. "Is his personality that different?"

Duo sighed and returned to glaring at Trowa. "No, actually. He's still borderline snarky and he still has that damn smirk."

Said smirk emerged at Duo's words.

"How are you okay with this?" Duo asked, looking back up at Heero.

He shrugged and looked over at Trowa, a cold and calculating look in his eyes. "I'm not threatened by him. Whatever magical bond the two of you have isn't something that I'm part of, but I know you, and I'm not going anywhere. If we heal him now then this thing is done. As I said before, I think he could be a valuable ally – there's no point in wasting that. And… I understand why he did what he did."

"Oh really?" Duo felt his anger start to return. He could not believe that Heero was now on Trowa's side. It reminded him of when he had first freed Heero after killing Gavi. "You know, I'm actually not surprised at all. This is classic – "

"Duo, he is not like Gavi."

"Who is Gavi?" Trowa asked, interrupting Duo and Heero's glaring match.

Duo sighed and tried to move out from under Heero, but the other man put more of his weight onto Duo's legs, holding him in place.

"Gavi was an Ephemeral who made me," Heero explained.

"Made you?" Trowa echoed. He approached the bed and sat down on the edge, giving Duo a profile view of his ruined back.

"I was a soldier in the U.S. Army when World War II broke out. I'm half Japanese, and there was a lot of…resentment towards me after Pearl Harbor, so I volunteered for a special unit. A group of scientists were trying to create a stronger soldier who could heal faster than normal and also take more damage. The lead scientist on the project was Gavi Weissman, a German Jewish Ephemeral." Heero looked up at Duo to see if he felt like continuing the story. Duo sighed.

"We were involved for about a year and then one night he ambushed me, injected silver into my veins, took my blood, and left me to die."

Trowa's eyes widened and then narrowed.

"I'm assuming this story involves you killing him."

Duo smirked. "You're damn right it does. It took me a while to force the silver into a lump that I could rip out of my arm," he unconsciously rubbed at the spot on his right forearm, "and then a few days to track him down. They used my blood to create some kind of new blood plasma that they transfused into Heero. So he's got my ability to heal quickly and suffer a lot of damage, but they also figured out how to make him invulnerable to magic. He was just the first of many – Gavi had plans to make an entire ARMY of soldiers like Heero. So yeah, I killed him and the two other Ephemeral scientists working with him."

Trowa was quiet for a moment.

"I'm not like him," he finally said. "Yes, I started a relationship with you because it would be advantageous to me, but…as much as I might not have liked you before I met you, it was never my intention to harm you." Trowa smirked slightly. "Even after you whined about having to go hiking."

"I did not whine," Duo grumbled, which only made Trowa smirk more. Duo looked up at Heero. "I still don't trust him."

"I'll still help you bury his body whenever you want to kill him," Heero promised. He leaned down and kissed Duo again, teasing Duo's mouth open for a deep kiss. "Now, can we move on to plan B?"

"How is this going to work?" Duo asked. He massaged Heero's penis through the thin cotton of his boxers, feeling it grow large again in his hand. "I was really looking forward to having you inside of me."

Heero smirked. "That's still part of plan B," he assured him. He eased away from Duo's hand and knelt above Duo so that he could undo Duo's jeans. Duo scooted up on the bed and pulled both his jeans and his boxers off. Heero also took the opportunity to pull off his boxers before crawling back to Duo.

Duo sat up and started to reach for Heero's body when he felt the bed shift as Trowa moved to join them. Duo's shoulders tensed as he anticipated Trowa's touch, but when the other man skimmed his fingers down Duo's spine that same frisson of golden energy passed between them and he leaned into the touch.

He reached for Heero's erection even as he leaned towards Trowa and kissed him, and he reveled in the taste of cinnamon and the flood of desire he and Trowa shared. Duo felt both men run their hands over his body, and the sensation was intensely arousing. Duo tried to lean into both of them while still kissing Trowa.

Heero moved closer and started to kiss his way down Duo's torso, skirting around Trowa's hands as he neared Duo's straining erection.

When Heero's mouth closed over him Duo groaned into Trowa's mouth and arched his hips up. Heero used his hands to position Duo so that he was leaning back against Trowa's chest, the other man's erection firm against his lower back. The angle made kissing Trowa awkward, but the shape shifter started to lick and nip his way down Duo's neck and shoulder.

Duo shivered at the dual sensations. Years ago, when he had still worked for the Old Council he had taken part in threesomes and orgies – the Old Council had had several members who enjoyed sex magic, and Council meetings usually concluded with a virtual feast of debauchery. Duo had participated, but he had never had a lover he cared for as much as Heero, or even a partner he physically connected to as well as Trowa. Having both men lavish attention on his body was unique, and it was a struggle to remain angry with Trowa as his pleasure and arousal grew.

Heero dragged his teeth over Duo's erection and he cried out at the intense sensation at the same time that Trowa groaned and thrust towards him from behind.

"Fuck, Heero," Duo panted.

The human looked up at him and smirked. He released Duo and crawled to the edge of the bed to grab the lube from the nightstand. In his absence Trowa started to stroke Duo's erection, his grip firm and his pace just steady enough to make Duo wish for more.

Heero rejoined them and Duo shifted away from Trowa, instantly regretting the feel of the other man's warm, hard body behind his own. He kissed Heero, and the lingering taste of Trowa mixed with Heero's own distinct taste and it literally tasted like heaven to Duo. His own pleasure was mirrored by Trowa's, and he was overwhelmed by the magnified sensations.

"I need you in me now," he growled to Heero. Duo didn't think he would last through anymore foreplay – everything was simply too intense.

"Turn around," Heero instructed, his voice a harsh whisper against Duo's ear. He shivered but complied.

Heero pushed him towards Trowa, so that Duo was practically straddling the other man's lap, and their erections brushed together. They both groaned at the touch, and then Trowa smirked in pleasure before leaning down and kissing Duo again.

With Heero preparing him and Trowa kissing him, Duo felt sandwiched in pleasure, and he finally allowed himself to just let go of his anger and enjoy it. When Heero finally thrust into him, the force of it carried Duo forward completely into Trowa's lap, and the friction of their erections brushing together was amazingly stimulating.

Heero's hands were gripping his hips tightly, with Trowa's overlapping them as both men tried to pull Duo closer. He could feel his climax building, could feel Trowa reaching that same precipice, and then suddenly he was there, coming with a hoarse shout of pleasure that he both heard and felt echoed by Trowa, and Heero followed them.

Duo's prediction that the magic released by them this time would be stronger was proven correct – he was blinded by the intensity of the warm, golden flood that washed over them. His body, still aching from the previous night, instantly felt renewed and sated. That same euphoric feeling from before returned, and it suddenly felt as if the world was a bright place of possibilities.

Heero pulled out of him, and Duo flopped down bonelessly onto his back. He felt amazingly empty and content. He looked at Heero, and while it was clear that the man wasn't experiencing the magical aftereffects of their sex, he had clearly enjoyed himself. He was wearing the same smug half-smirk he always wore after particularly good sex.

Duo rolled over to look at Trowa. The other man was still sitting back on his heels, and he had a half-dazed look on his face. Duo grinned at the look.

"Feel better?"

Trowa looked at him.

"Better? I feel like I just saw the sun for the first time."

Duo chuckled and stretched, luxuriating in feeling his muscles strain.

"Can you feel your animal?" Heero asked.

Trowa closed his eyes and then smiled.

"Yes. It's like whatever wall was separating me from it is gone."

Duo nodded. "Good. Mission accomplished. Time for bed."

Trowa's face lost its smile and his eyes took on that same empty look of his lion.

"What?" Duo asked.

"What happens now?"

Duo frowned. He hadn't really considered that – then again, he hadn't really planned on any of this happening. It might have been easy enough to forget his anger with Trowa while they were in the middle of having amazing sex, but now that the moment had passed and the golden glow of magic was fading, the fact remained that Duo did not trust him and that he really didn't know how he felt about him anymore.

"He should shift," Heero said. He moved so that he was laying down beside Duo on his side.

"Not in my bed," Duo muttered. He had seen shifters change into their animal forms before, and it was never a sight he enjoyed. That, and he did not want to be that close to Trowa in lion form.

"If you'll let me borrow some clothes I can leave," Trowa said, his voice tense.

Duo groaned. "No, no. I'm not going to kick you out in the middle of the night. Just – go to the living room."

"And after that?"

"How long will you need to be in that form?"

Trowa shrugged one shoulder.

"Not long. Maybe an hour?"

"Most shape shifters need a full day."

"I'm not most shape shifters," Trowa pointed out with a smug grin.

"Right. I – Trowa, things are not okay between us. Sure, we just had amazing sex – and it should help you heal, so that's good. But – we are not going back to the way things were between us two days ago."

"I have to protect my pack, and I have to fight for my freedom. That puts me in direct opposition to what you believe in."

"Yeah, it does," Duo agreed. He shook his head. "Just – go shift and heal yourself. We'll talk about this tomorrow."

Trowa held his gaze for a moment and then looked past him to Heero.

"I'm not going to kill you in the middle of the night," Heero said after a brief staring contest.

The barest smile curved Trowa's lips before he rose from the bed and left the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Duo rolled over and looked up at Heero.

"Seriously. Less than twenty four hours as a couple and already – "

"Duo, just go to sleep." Heero kissed him when he started to protest, and Duo allowed him to.

Eventually they pulled back the rather messy comforter and crawled under the sheets. They lay in their usual positions, back to back, and Duo was amused by the fact that even when they slept, they were trying to watch out for each other.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duo was tired of waking up to the ring of cell phones. Especially when he was so well insulated, trapped between Heero and Trowa on the bed and baking in the heat of Trowa's body.

"Not my phone," Duo grumbled when he was lucid enough to recognize the ringtone. He was amused that, even though they were sleeping front to front, Trowa had still found a way to wrap himself around Duo in the night, insinuating one of his legs between Duo's and one arm slung low over his hips.

Trowa's green eyes blinked open, and he looked just as cranky as Duo felt.

"Not mine – it's in my car. In the desert."

Heero rolled away from Duo's back, which Trowa seemed to take as an invitation to pull Duo closer. Duo thought about fighting against it, but Trowa simply closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Duo listened as Heero answered the phone, but then the assassin went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Duo sighed and pulled away from Trowa enough so that he could roll over. He really didn't like sleeping with his back exposed, and if Trowa was there he might as well be useful.

The shape shifter momentarily protested, but when Duo settled his back against his front Trowa threw one leg over his and pulled him close.

"Thank you," Trowa murmured against his ear.

Duo didn't have a response to that that wasn't snarky, so he remained silent. After a few minutes he drifted back to sleep, lulled by the steady drum of Trowa's heartbeat against his back and the warmth of his body.

"We have a problem."

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but Heero had pulled on his clothes from yesterday and was lacing up his boots.

"What now?" Duo groaned.

"The contract on you was cancelled."

"Yeah, I can see how that's problematic."

"Someone's taken out one on Quatre Winner instead."

Duo could feel Trowa tense up behind him.

"Details?" Duo asked.

"Same amount – five million – but there's a deadline. They want him dead before sunset on Monday."

"The Old Council Emissary is supposed to arrive on Monday," Trowa said.

"Who was on the phone?"

"My agent."

"You have an agent?" Duo had never been present when Heero was offered a job, only when Heero asked him to assist, and he had never given much thought to how a job was set up.

"Yes. Who also found us a house. We move in Wednesday."

"I didn't realize we were looking to move so soon."

"There's no point in staying at this location. It's in your name, and even though the contract on you has been cancelled, everyone knows where you live now. It's an unnecessary risk."

Duo sighed.

"So what's the plan?"

"You and I are going to find Quatre Winner and I'm going to protect him."

"Really?"

Heero nodded. "I have the feeling that this is the same person who put out the contract on you – so it's important that Winner stays alive."

"Okay. Fair enough." Duo pulled away from Trowa's embrace and got out of the bed. "I need a shower, though."

"Be quick."

Duo looked over at Trowa, still on the bed.

"How is your back?"

In answer, Trowa rose and turned around, giving them a full view of the damage. The skin around the violet scars was bright and pink. The scars themselves were still ragged, and Duo knew it would be weeks before they were completely closed and Trowa could move with ease. But he could feel how much better Trowa felt, and knew that he had healed much of the damage by shifting into his lion.

"Good. You'll live." Duo frowned. "You should probably let your pack know you're still alive."

Trowa's gaze was searching, but Duo wasn't ready to fix things between them yet. He turned on his heel and closed the bathroom door, shutting out both Trowa and Heero.

When he came back into the bedroom half an hour later, the room was empty. He tried to reach out and feel Trowa, but he was gone from the condo.

Duo dressed quickly and then found Heero in the living room with an arsenal of weapons spread out on the coffee table in front of him.

Duo whistled and reached for a particularly wicked looking knife.

"Beautiful," he said, and hummed in satisfaction at the way the hilt felt in his palm.

"Guns are better," Heero muttered and selected several. He handed one to Duo. With a sigh, Duo accepted it and tucked it into the back of his jeans. He pulled his t-shirt over it, and then tucked the knife into his right boot.

"Call Winner," Heero instructed.

"Yes boss," Duo muttered.

He dialed Quatre's number and waited for him to answer. He watched in amusement as Heero selected a few more weapons before then packing away the rest. Duo had no idea where Heero was going to put all of the guns he had set out, but he was very curious to find out.

"Good morning," Quatre answered after several rings.

"Hey, Quatre, listen, we have a situation on our hands."

"What did you do?"

"Okay, I resent the implication that this is somehow my fault. It's more like, what did you do. My friend that I told you about –"

"The assassin?"

"Yeah. Well, he just got offered a new job. Someone's taken out a contract on your life and they want you dead by sunset on Monday."

Quatre was silent.

"Quatre?"

"Why Monday?"

"We have a theory. The Old Council is sending an Emissary to visit Treize, and the Emissary arrives on Monday. We're guessing that whoever wants you dead wants you out of the picture before then because they view you as a problem."

"Obviously," Quatre agreed, his voice tense.

"So my friend –"

"Does he have a name?"

"Heero."

"He's an assassin named Heero?"

Duo smirked. "I know, ironic. Except, in this case, a little less ironic. He's just promoted himself to act as your personal bodyguard. So he's going to be keeping you alive for the next two days."

"I don't –"

"Not negotiable," Duo interrupted him. "We're coming to your apartment now."

"Duo –"

"Quatre, if you die then all of the progress you've managed to make goes away. Treize will use it as an excuse to promote his own Arbiter, who will just be his pawn, and NO one will thrive under his rule."

Duo frowned and looked at Heero.

"Are you sure it's not Treize?" He asked the assassin.

"Positive."

"But he has the most to gain from us being dead," Duo mused. He shook himself and spoke into the phone again. "We'll see you in ten minutes."

He hung up the phone to more of Quatre's protests

"Something is going on that I don't know about," Duo said. "Two nights ago Treize warned me to keep Quatre under control so that the Emissary wouldn't have him killed. But now someone wants him dead before the Emissary gets here."

"Who would have the most to gain from his death?"

"Aside from Treize?" Duo shrugged. "Maybe another faction on the Council? Or, if what Treize says is true, the Old Council might have just decided to off him before they even get to town – maybe they want to take the chance to set up a clean slate."

"Who is the Emissary?" Heero asked.

"No idea."

Heero nodded and stood.

"We need to figure that out, but first we need to go get your Ephemeral."

"He isn't mine," Duo muttered.

They started to walk out of the apartment when Duo's cell phone rang again. He answered it, expecting it to be Quatre trying to argue his way out of protection.

"Quatre –"

"Duo, it's Hilde."

"Hey – oh, shit. I'm so sorry about last night." He hadn't even thought to protect her from their magical surge.

"This isn't about that. There was another circle last night."

"Was the victim an Ephemeral?"

"Yes – but she's still alive."

"WHAT?"

"Yes. We have her here at the station now. I need you down here to help us question her."

"Yeah, I'll be there in twenty minutes - I need to run by Quatre's apartment first."

"Okay, but please hurry. She keeps saying that her master will send someone for her and that we can't hold her against her will."

"Did she say who her master is?"

"Zechs."

Duo swore.

"Okay, if he shows up before I get there try to stall – I'm on my way."

He hung up the phone.

"Would it be impossible for me to have one day where I only have one problem to deal with?" He muttered to Heero.

"Apparently."

"Alright, smart ass, let's go."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Eleven

When they arrived at Quatre's apartment Duo decided to hang back and let Heero take charge – he wondered just how Quatre would react to Heero's very dry humor and his commanding presence.

Sure enough, Quatre did not seem pleased when he opened the door and Heero, followed by Duo, came in.

"Listen, I really don't think that I need Heero to watch over me. I'm perfectly capable of –"

Before he could finish the sentence, Heero spun around from his perusal of the apartment and wrapped his forearm around Quatre's throat in a chokehold. An instant later a gun appeared in his left hand and he held it against the blonde Ephemeral's temple.

"You were saying?" Duo asked in amusement.

Quatre glared at him, but to his credit he didn't bother struggling in Heero's grasp.

"This is ridiculous."

"No, what's ridiculous is the fact that you are the Arbiter and you don't even value your own life enough to have bodyguards. You realize that that's what the Council primarily uses their human servants for, right? And yes, when I'm around you, it's my job to put my body between you and harm, but I'm not with you all that often. You need full time bodyguards."

"I have full time bodyguards," Quatre groused. He pulled away from Heero, who let him go without a struggle.

"Oh? Are they invisible?" Duo made a show of looking around. "Heero, you see anyone?"

"No," Heero confirmed without looking.

Quatre sighed. "Rashid is on his way over."

"Rashid – your driver?"

Quatre nodded. "Also my bodyguard. But I do not like the idea of walking around with a bodyguard all the time. It gives the wrong impression."

"It gives the impression that you don't want to die," Heero said.

"I don't, but it's also intimidating."

"The Arbiter should be intimidating," Duo argued.

Quatre sighed. "No, I know. I just – forget it."

"No, what?"

For a moment it looked like Quatre would remain silent.

"I'm not my father. I'm not – I just can't seem to lead the life he wants me to. I'm an Ephemeral – which he considers an abomination against our religion – I'm not married with four children already. And now – now I have people trying to kill me and I have to have a professional killer guard me?" He shook his head and chuckled bitterly. "This is not what I should be doing with my life."

"It's exactly what you should be doing with your life," Duo argued. "Quatre – your magic is an amazing gift. You are one of the most powerful Ephemerals I've come across in a century. That's not an abomination. You are using your magic to do good things, to help people. What could… God possibly not appreciate about that?" Religion also made Duo uncomfortable, but he forged ahead for Quatre's sake. "And yeah, you've got people trying to kill you now – that just means you're doing something right!"

"Hitler had people trying to kill him," Quatre muttered.

Heero snorted a laugh at that.

"Yeah, well, my point is that you are doing the right thing with your life and you shouldn't be questioning this. You're important, you need to stay alive, and you are a good man. Those are pretty rare, you know. So forgive me for thinking that you need to be protected." Duo waited until Quatre nodded in sullen agreement.

"Look, Quatre, you aren't the first Ephemeral whose family treated them like, you know, a witch. But you can be one of the last. Isn't that what you want – to change the world and make this a better place for everyone? So – do it. Show your father that you ARE the son he wanted, just better."

Quatre shook his head, but a smile tugged on the corners of his mouth.

"This doesn't sound like your usual, the world is ending self."

Duo shrugged. "I've turned over a new leaf. Which reminds me – Heero's going to protect you. Non negotiable."

Quatre opened his mouth to protest again.

"If this Rashid is good enough, we can rotate duties," Heero intervened. "He can escort you for more mundane things – and I'll protect you at night and in dangerous situations."

Quatre rolled his eyes.

"It's just until Monday night's Council meeting," Duo placated him. "And then the contract expires. So – three days and then you can go back to your carefree self."

"Until the next crisis."

"Exactly," Duo agreed with a smirk. "Now, sorry to run, but I need to get down to the FBI's gas station. See you two later."

He looked over at Heero, who nodded at him, and then he left.

 

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It had been more than an hour since Hilde had called, and he was positive that Zechs would have arrived at the headquarters by now to try and secure the release of his servant.

Sure enough, when Duo was led back to the conference room where Hilde and Wufei were interrogating Zechs's servant, the Light Court Faerie was already present, one of his long arms wrapped around the slender shoulders of a blonde woman who must have been his servant.

"Sorry I'm late," Duo drawled as he entered. Both Zechs and Wufei looked up to glare at him. Duo smirked back at them before looking to Hilde. "What did I miss?"

"This is Dorothy Catalonia, she is Zechs Merquise's servant, and she is the only one to have escaped from our Ephemeral serial killer."

"Serial killer? Are you sure?" Zechs repeated, a look of disbelief on his face.

"Well, what would you call someone who goes around murdering women in the same pattern, with a ritual circle and draining their bodies of blood – and magic, now?"

Zechs shrugged. "Are you sure there is a pattern? It might not even be the same Ephemeral."

Duo ignored him and looked towards Hilde and Wufei.

"So, what do we have?"

Hilde sighed.

"Ms. Catalonia refused to answer any of our questions until her master arrived… and we decided to just wait for you."

"She decided," Wufei corrected, with a glare in Duo's direction.

"Love you too," Duo muttered.

He sat down at the head of the table, with Hilde and Wufei to his right and Dorothy and Zechs to his left.

"Alright, so let's talk. What happened?"

Dorothy tossed her hair and remained defiantly silent. She was pale, and clearly shaken, so Duo gave her points for being this bold and stubborn. Then again, having Zechs beside her probably did a lot to bolster her confidence.

Duo sighed and turned to Wufei.

"Hey, Chang, what usually happens to a victim who escapes a serial killer?"

The Chinese man shrugged one shoulder.

"Serial killers like order and they hate to have their plans wrecked. Usually they hunt down the victim and finish the job – but most of the time, because it's a break from the pattern – they punish the victim more than they would have."

Duo nodded thoughtfully and looked back to Dorothy.

"Sound like fun?"

"Zechs will protect me," she insisted.

"Like he did when you almost got killed in the first place?" Hilde suggested.

Dorothy's eyes narrowed.

"Zechs cares more for me than your master ever could for you."

Hilde actually laughed at her.

"You know… I think I'm okay with that. Because my master wouldn't force me to remain silent and sign my own death warrant. So, if that means that he doesn't care as much for me… I'll take it."

Duo smirked at Zechs, amused by the battle between the two women.

"This is ridiculous. You do not have the authority to force myself or my servant to answer your questions, and you are wasting time that you should devote to solving other criminal cases," Zechs insisted.

"Other?" Duo echoed.

"The shape shifters that are marauding about trying to form a pack? Surely they represent more of a danger than one rogue Ephemeral. Duo, you know what shape shifters are capable of."

Duo's eyes narrowed.

"I thought Treize had that situation under control."

Zechs sneered. "His pet seems to have… gone missing. As have most of the shape shifters at court."

Duo blinked and hid his surprise. There was no way that that could be good news.

"We are looking in to that," Hilde spoke up quickly, "however, we ARE capable of investigating several crimes at once. Now, if we could please return to the subject."

"We will not be discussing the events of last night with you," Zechs assured Hilde.

"Then you will be charged with obstructing justice," Wufei assured him.

"How? The only way that I can be formally involved in a human investigation is –" Zechs abruptly snapped his jaw shut, but it was too late. Duo smirked.

"Is if the Arbiter tells you to. Hmm, I wonder if… why, look at that, I do have his phone number right here." Duo grinned as he dialed and held the phone to his ear. "Don't worry, this will just take a second."

Quatre answered on the third ring with a long suffering sigh. "Duo, please call off your baby sitter. This is… beyond ridiculous. No one is trying to kill me. And even if they were, Rashid is perfectly-"

"Yeah, sure, anyway, I'm down here with the FBI and Zechs Merquise would just love it if you could stop by for a moment so that we can all chat."

Quatre sighed again. "What did you do –"

"Not me. His servant escaped an attempted murder last night by the serial killer but neither of them will talk."

"I'm on my way," Quatre's voice had changed from the almost whiny, sullen tone to completely professional.

Duo hung up and turned back to Zechs.

"He's on his way. So… while we wait, what's this I hear about an Emissary coming to visit?"

Zechs' eyes narrowed.

"What's this I hear about you failing to Summon your lover again?"

Duo clenched his jaw against the immediate desire to pummel Zechs. Instead, he casually crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"You would think, that after five hundred YEARS of failure you would realize that he has no interest in seeing you. Ever again. Let's be honest – you're a decent lay, but –"

"Shut your mouth. If you aren't going to cooperate with the investigation then you can shut the hell up until the Quatre arrives." It was actually Wufei who spoke up, and all eyes turned to him in shock. He merely glared back. "None of us needs or wants to hear about Maxwell's personal life."

Duo snorted at that, but settled down and contented himself with glaring at Zechs in the silence that fell over the room.

When Quatre and Heero arrived ten minutes later there was an audible sigh of relief from nearly everyone in the room. As soon as the two stepped into the room, Wufei and Hilde started speaking at once, demanding that Quatre intervene.

But Duo was more focused on the fact that Heero had taken one look at Zechs and completely frozen. He looked over at Zechs and noticed a fierce, predatory smile spread across his full lips.

"Heero Yuy. What a pleasure to see you again."

"Zechs," was Heero's frosty response.

"I didn't realize you still used your… talents for government work."

"I'm not," Heero hissed.

"Given up?" Zechs asked with an unpleasant chuckle. He nodded to himself. "After what happened, I don't blame you."

Heero's fists clenched tightly.

"Who is this?" Wufei demanded, seeing Heero for the first time.

"My bodyguard," Quatre growled and sat down in the seat that Duo vacated for him. Duo stood behind him, positioning himself near Zechs. Heero stood on the other side. "So – what's going on?"

"Dorothy Catalonia is Zechs Merquise's servant, and she would have been the most recent victim of our Ephemeral serial killer – except that she escaped. But she's refusing to provide us with any information about the Ephemeral or how she escaped." Wufei summarized, glaring at Zechs the entire time.

Duo was amused and relieved that he was no longer the sole recipient of Wufei's ire.

"Is there a reason you won't allow your servant to provide evidence that could potentially save the lives of other Ephemerals – other Council servants?" Quatre asked Zechs.

"It was a traumatic experience and Dorothy is still recovering. I fail to see how the information provided by one victim can do anything to change what the agents already know," Zechs said stiffly.

"Right – but Dorothy is the only one who survived. So she's not like the other victims," Duo pointed out.

Zechs still looked stubborn. Quatre sighed.

"If you want me to order you to…" Quatre trailed off.

"If you must."

"Fine. As the Arbiter for the United States government I request that you submit yourself – and your servant – for investigation by the FBI in this criminal matter. If you fail to cooperate with their investigation then both you and your servant will be brought up on charges for obstructing justice and failing to maintain the criminal codes outlined under federal mandates regarding magic users."

"Very impressive," Zechs smirked. "You memorized it?"

Quatre arched an eyebrow at him.

"I'd start answering their questions right now before I decide that they can involve you in other ongoing criminal investigations," he suggested.

Duo appreciated the cool confidence that Quatre was displaying, and he hoped that the Ephemeral continued to evolve as the Arbiter. Badass was a good look for him, Duo decided.

"Ask your questions," Zechs growled.

"Ms. Catalonia, what can you tell us about the circumstances in which you were abducted?" Wufei started immediately.

Dorothy heaved an angry sigh, but sat up in her chair.

"I was leaving a meeting and –"

"What kind of meeting? Where?" Wufei interrupted.

Dorothy's gaze flicked over to Hilde's.

"My coven. I can't tell you where we meet."

"Yes you –"

"Wufei, she really can't," Hilde stopped him, "it's secret-kept. Part of our ritual."

Wufei's eyes narrowed, and Duo suspected that those two would be having another argument later.

"You were leaving the meeting of your coven and?"

"And all that I remember is getting into my car and then nothing. Just this feeling of cold, of ice, and darkness." She shrugged. "When I regained consciousness I was naked in the circle, and my arms and legs were held in place with magic, and he was casting some threshold spell on the circle."

"He took you from our – you were still there?" Hilde asked, and there was a thread of fear in her voice.

Dorothy nodded, her eyes narrow. "He was waiting for me."

Hilde closed her eyes and shook her head. Duo could actually feel her anger through their connection.

"That bastard was staking us out. He was watching us."

"You aren't safe meeting there anymore," Duo pointed out. "You should contact your coven members and warn them."

Hilde nodded, but Duo could tell that her focus was elsewhere. Her anger was growing, and Duo knew she was already plotting revenge.

"How do you know it was a threshold spell?" Wufei asked.

"Because I know magic," Dorothy growled.

"What did he look like?" Duo asked the obvious question.

"I…don't know." Dorothy slanted a look to Zechs, who shook his head.

"Lying only makes me hate you more," Duo drawled.

"I'm not lying. I really don't know. He was dark – like a shadow or a cloud hung over him."

"What about his magic?" Hilde asked. "What did it feel like?"

"Like nothing I've ever felt before. He was strong and… cold. Very, very cold." She shivered. "His eyes – I saw his eyes. They were like electric blue."

"Electric blue?" Duo echoed.

She nodded. "They glowed. And I've never seen such a brilliant blue."

"What about his voice?" Wufei asked.

She frowned. "It was Old World. That same accent."

"Old World?" Wufei asked.

"From Europe," Duo clarified. "And he's old, right?"

She nodded reluctantly.

"Zechs, any Ephemeral that old and powerful would have to have the Council's blessing to even be in the States."

The golden haired Faery frowned.

"Yes, if they were sanctioned to be here."

"You're telling me that there's an Ephemeral strong enough to be considered an Old One here and you don't even know who it is?" Duo demanded.

Zechs glared at him.

"I am not the Head of the Council," he bit out. "If you want to ask Treize in for questioning then do so. It is not my place nor my obligation to speculate."

"How did you escape?" Hilde asked Dorothy.

"I really don't know. He was in the middle of summoning my magic – I could actually feel it start to leave my body – and then suddenly he just stopped. He… he started to moan, and then he lost his concentration - I could feel the magic start to weaken, and I took my chances and ran."

"What time would you say this was?" Wufei asked.

She shook her head.

"I have no idea."

"Before or after midnight?" Heero offered.

"After – right around midnight, actually. Yes, it was right around midnight."

Which was right around the time that Duo, Heero, and Trowa had been engaged in healing Trowa.

"Where were you? Where did he take you?" Duo realized that Hilde and Wufei hadn't told him where the crime scene was.

"A hotel room at Planet Hollywood."

Close enough to Duo's condo that he might have felt the Ephemeral if his spell had succeeded.

"It doesn't seem like this guy's style to get so easily distracted," Duo commented.

"No, it doesn't," Wufei agreed.

"Perhaps it isn't the same person…" Zechs suggested.

"No, the circle is the same, the runes, everything – he just wasn't able to kill Dorothy," Hilde murmured. "I wonder what distracted him?" She looked over at Duo. "You know, that was around the same time that you –"

Duo cleared his throat.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"I'm just saying – you live really close to Planet Hollywood, and I felt it across town."

"You're my servant. We have a connection."

"Right. I'm just saying that it was enough to distract me. Maybe something similar happened to him? Could he be connected to someone in the same way?"

Duo frowned. It seemed a huge coincidence for their Ephemeral to be the servant of someone who had also unleashed a lot of magic at the exact same time that Duo and Trowa had. Duo frowned and looked over at Heero. The assassin shrugged his shoulders, admitting that his mind was going down the same path as Duo's.

It wasn't often that shape shifters had servants, but it was possible. And with someone as old and powerful as Trowa, it was even likely.

Which made Trowa a suspect.

 

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Duo stopped by Quatre's office on his way home to check in and see how Heero and the Arbiter were getting along. He had spent the afternoon going over the Planet Hollywood hotel room with Hilde, and then several hours trying to track down Trowa. He had called Chippendales, only to be informed that Trowa no longer worked there, and the FBI database had no records on where he lived.

He planned on simply popping his head in, saying goodnight to Quatre and Heero, and then leaving, but once again, fate needed to remind him how much she hated him.

Heero refused to answer Duo's questions about how and when he might have met Zechs in front of Quatre, so Duo had to content himself with wild speculations in his head.

Duo was on his way back out of Quatre's office when Catharine Bloom barged in. Duo could feel her anger like a physical blow, and he tried to move out of her line of fire.

"You were supposed to protect him!" She accused, her voice a growl very reminiscent of a lion's.

"Um, no, I was supposed to find out how he was," Duo corrected.

"Oh? And how was he after you tortured him to within an inch of his life?"

"After I spend the next two days trying to fucking heal him he turned out just fine!" Duo barked at her, thoroughly pissed that this was Trowa's idea of telling Catharine what she needed to know.

"You destroyed him!"

"What?" Duo asked, feeling a jolt of alarm. He ignored the curious looks from Heero and Quatre.

"Your magic is all over him. It's like a… shadow."

"But he can shift?"

"Of course he can."

"And he can still do his… other stuff?"

"Of course!"

"Then how, exactly, did I destroy him?"

She glared at him with such hatred that Duo actually stepped backwards.

"His back! You took away his ability to pass as human! He can't work at his job now, and among us he is marked! By you! The most vicious man alive!"

Duo winced. With all of his other concerns, he really hadn't given any thought to the fact that Trowa would no longer be able to work at Chippendales. The scars from Deathscythe couldn't be concealed with magic, and the taint of that dark magic would always be with him.

"I think you are exaggerating the –" Quatre started to interrupt.

Catharine turned blazing eyes on the blonde Ephemeral.

"Unlike you, Arbiter, or the God of Death, my brother and I have been slaves for the last four thousand years. We don't have a fortune we've made at the expense of others. We barely make enough to survive, and with the prejudice against shape shifters, his job was one of the few that didn't question his background. You've taken that away from him. How is he supposed to live?"

"Treize doesn't support you two?" Heero asked.

"Of course not! Treize expects us to fend for ourselves and then show up and look presentable when he needs us."

"Catharine –" Duo began.

"You destroyed his life. I will get revenge for this, Executioner." And with that promise she left in a swirl of auburn hair and angry magic.

 

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Duo spent Sunday afternoon on bodyguard duty – Rashid had taken the early morning, and Heero still insisted that he watch over the Arbiter at night, so Duo covered the afternoon so that Heero could get a few more hours of sleep. He expected Heero to arrive around sunset, at six, and sure enough, the assassin arrived right on time. But he wasn't alone.

Heero and Trowa walked in to Quatre's office, Heero completely unfazed by the gun Duo had trained on him as he walked in, and Trowa looking slightly taken aback by the weapon in Duo's hand.

Duo looked between them and noticed the vaguely embarrassed look on Trowa's face and the smug, satisfied expression on Heero's. It was an expression that Duo was very familiar with – Heero also sported that smirk after particularly good sex – and Duo was used to having it directed at HIM. It was a completely new sensation to see Heero looking at someone else like that, and Duo quickly stomped down the feelings of anger and jealousy that the look aroused in him.

"So you two fucked," he commented casually.

Trowa actually blushed, but Heero shrugged.

"We resolved an argument."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"We have got to work on your conflict management skills, Heero. You can end a fight without killing or fucking someone, you know."

"I know," Heero agreed, completely unapologetic.

Duo didn't know why it bothered him so much that Heero had slept with Trowa, and he was afraid of examining the emotions too closely. He had slept with Trowa, and he and Heero were now in a committed relationship – so maybe it was fair that Heero also slept with Duo's Soul Mate? But Duo didn't even want to be involved with Trowa, and now… Heero seemed to be forcing the issue by becoming involved with the other man himself.

"What are you doing here?" Duo demanded of Trowa, storing away the emotions and thoughts to deal with later.

"I'm here to see the Arbiter," Trowa said, in the calm, confident voice that Duo knew was his alpha voice. He looked past Duo to Quatre, who was sitting behind his desk looking a little shell shocked from all of the new information he had just learned.

Duo frowned.

"What –"

"I represent the Free Clan of Las Vegas as the alpha of our pack, and I am here to formally petition that we are granted the same rights and freedoms guaranteed to other Old Ones and Ephemerals under the legislation passed last year. Under the 38th Amendment we are guaranteed the same rights and privileges of other American citizens, regardless of our magical nature. I am here to demand that that Amendment is enforced and that the slavery of shape shifters ends."

"You – you're a shape shifter?" Quatre asked.

Trowa inclined his head.

"And you knew?" Quatre turned to Duo in disbelief.

"Yeah, I found out recently. After we started dating, I should point out."

"And you… are okay with that?"

"Hell no. But I don't think he's here to talk about our personal issues."

Quatre shook himself.

"Of course. Um, please, sit?" He gestured to the chair across from him, and Trowa sat down. "This situation is incredibly complicated, Trowa – is that your real name?" There was a frosty hint in Quatre's voice, and Duo was glad that he too was taking it personally that Trowa had hidden his identity.

"Yes, that is my name."

"Okay, then, Trowa, the Council insists that there is a difference between the Old Ones – magical beings – and shape shifters. They claim that shape shifters are magical creatures."

"How is that different from Faeries?" Trowa asked, slanting a look at Duo to judge his reaction to the question. It was, Duo had to admit, a fair point.

"The argument is that a creature is mastered by his magic, while a being masters his magic. Shape shifters are subject to being controlled by their magic, and can't control their shifting. Not like Faeries can control magic."

Trowa nodded thoughtfully.

"What about those of us strong enough to control our magic?"

"Alphas?"

"Yes. What are we?"

"Well – technically you are still a shape shifter."

"But I'm not subject to my magic. I can control it. Surely that means that I have…evolved into another being."

Duo sighed. He could see where Trowa was going with this, and for some reason he decided to help him make his point.

"Well, are you saying that a magic user who can't control their magic is just a creature then? That until you learn to control your magic you aren't… real?"

"That's ridiculous. You are still the same – you can't start legislating degree of magical proficiency," Quatre argued. "It's not right to do that." He realized the trap he had just argued himself into and sighed.

Trowa looked triumphant, and he shot Duo a grateful look.

"Then magical creatures and magical beings are the same. Furthermore, to suggest that shape shifters – who are human, and certainly are more human than vampires – are somehow a lesser being is to throw out the 13th and 14th Amendments." Trowa sat back in his chair, looking confident and cocky, and Duo had to admit, sexy as hell.

He looked over at Heero, still leaning against the wall by Quatre's door, and the assassin met his gaze.

Duo desperately wished Heero had some kind of magical ability at that moment. He wanted – needed – to know why Heero had slept with Trowa. He wanted to know what had changed, and what would change.

"Duo, can we…discuss it later, please?" Trowa interrupted his thoughts.

Duo frowned and looked down at the shape shifter in confusion, and then felt completely humiliated as he realized that Trowa had been able to sense his emotions through their connection.

"Sure, fine," Duo bit out and forced his mind to go completely blank.

"This process is proving somewhat difficult. But, I agree with you – and I want to change things."

Trowa's eyes narrowed at Quatre's tone.

"But?"

Quatre sighed. "The Council will not budge on this. I've spoken extensively with Une," Duo noticed that Trowa flinched at the name of Treize's servant, "and there are several other issues that the Council wants resolved before they will even discuss the situation with the shape shifters."

Duo frowned. "What other issues?" This was the first he was hearing of this.

Quatre looked cagey.

"Well…we've been discussing the statute of limitations on criminal prosecutions. Treize believes that since becoming a vampire is essentially leaving behind your human self, that any crimes committed should be forgiven."

"That's idiotic," Duo pointed out.

"He also thinks that any crime committed by an Old One – including vampires after their change – should not have a limitation for how much time can pass between the crime and the prosecution."

"Meaning?"

Quatre sighed and then met Duo's gaze. "He wants to bring you up on charges for murder."

Duo's jaw dropped.

"What?"

"When – when was the murder committed?" Heero asked.

Quatre shifted uncomfortably. His gaze flicked over Trowa and then back to Duo.

"Murders, actually. Back in 1898…you killed a group of shape shifters calling themselves White Fang."

Duo felt all color drain from his face.

"Fucking hell," he breathed.

The look on Quatre's face made it clear that Une had shared ALL the details of those murders with Quatre, and that Quatre was having a difficult time reconciling that information with the respect he felt for Duo.

"How many?" Heero asked.

"Seventeen," Duo answered for him. He swallowed hard. "Including six children."

Duo could feel Trowa's instant rage at the announcement, and the fury of the other man washed over him like a sharp, biting winter wind. Duo made himself meet Trowa's sharp, unforgiving green gaze.

"There were reports that they were attempting to start a pack, and the Council asked me to intervene. This group was responsible for the murders of several settlers up in Idaho, including two families. They killed an Ephemeral who was visiting the area, and the Council decided to take action. I was asked to go and investigate and use my judgment. I didn't know there were children. Not until… not until after."

Those had been some of the darkest days in Duo's life, comparable only to his actions during the Inquisition and when he had tracked down the last of the packs in Europe. He still had nightmares about that particular mission, and he would always be able to hear the screams of those children as they died.

"How did you kill them?" Trowa demanded.

"Fire."

Quatre winced, but Trowa's face went completely blank.

"Were you acting on Council orders?" Heero asked, ever the pragmatist.

"Yes and no. I was told to intervene – I was never given the order to kill them. It was simply…understood."

"You murdered six innocent children," Trowa pointed out.

"Yeah, I did," Duo agreed. He turned back to Quatre. "So Treize wants me out of the picture and he's trying to back you into a corner." He shrugged. "If that's what needs to happen – fine. I actually agree that there shouldn't be a statute on those kinds of crimes – but I also think it's bullshit to forgive a vampire crimes committed while they were human. Trade it."

"I'm not trading you," Quatre argued.

"I'm a murderer – even you can't see the silver lining in that one," Duo pointed out.

"Still on Council orders," Heero argued. "You were the Executioner– there isn't much that that title leaves up for debate. You had some unfortunate collateral – enough that you should never be in a position with that kind of power again, but not enough to be tried for murder."

"Because, after all, they were just animals," Trowa added in a furious whisper. Duo winced at the surge of anger he felt from Trowa. He sighed.

"Quatre, what's the going rate for murder these days?"

"For seventeen murders?" Quatre repeated. "The Death Penalty has been outlawed for humans, but… I'm fairly certain that you would be executed."

Duo nodded and then looked back at Trowa, waiting until the other man looked up and met his gaze.

"If you want, I'll turn myself in right now – gladly. I'll accept whatever punishment I'm given and I won't even fight it. But before I do that – you need to understand – I've never thought you were an animal. Never thought that shape shifters were animals. I'm not a human, so my concept of 'animal' might be a bit off. But I still consider killing innocent kids murder. I'm not saying otherwise."

They stared at each other in silence.

"Except that they weren't murders," Heero repeated. "You were doing your job and you had a mandate from the Council. It won't stand up in court."

Duo shrugged and looked away from Trowa back to Heero.

"Probably not. Which Treize has to know. He's after something – like always. He's trying to get Quatre to trade something for me… or he wants me for something…" he turned back to Trowa. "Any ideas?"

"Wait – are you Treize's lion?" Quatre asked before Trowa could answer. "Your eyes – they look just like –"

"Yes, I am," Trowa interrupted in a firm voice. "And no. As I told you before, Treize doesn't discuss politics around me."

Duo was reminded of Zechs' comment yesterday about the shape shifters at court disappearing.

"Um… speaking of politics. Any chance you and your friends are planning some kind of revolution soon?"

Trowa's eyes narrowed. "Not in the immediate future. There were…some concerns over the past few days, but all members of the pack will be returning to their MASTERS." He switched his gaze to Quatre. "We've decided to wait for the Arbiter to do his duty. But we won't be waiting for very long."

"That sounded a lot like a threat," Duo commented.

"Good. I'm glad that I made myself clear." Trowa's gaze was hard as it turned to Duo's. "One way or another, we WILL earn our freedom. I'd like to think that the Arbiter, and you, would be on the side of justice. But if it comes to it we will make our own justice."

Duo's eyes narrowed. "If you lay a finger on him I'll kill you."

"I am almost six thousand years old and the son of a god. You didn't even realize I wasn't a null. Forgive me if I think that my chances against you are pretty decent. After all – I'm not a child." Trowa snarled and rose to his feet. A wave of anger and hatred assaulted Duo, but before he could say anything, Trowa left.

"So…you two aren't still dating are you?" Quatre asked.

Duo turned a withering glare in his direction. "You think?"


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Eleven

It was just after dawn when Heero returned to the condo, and Duo was up waiting for him.

Duo hadn't slept well that night. He had spent several hours on the phone arguing with Hilde about her safety – it was clear to him , if no one else, that Hilde was likely to be a target – maybe even the next target – of the serial killer. Hilde, of course, saw his concern as chauvinistic. After a few hours, however, she had finally conceded that she was terrified of the possibility that the serial killer would start targeting her coven – that Dorothy was just one of many future victims. They eventually agreed that she would get the coven to move their meeting time and place, and that she would check in with Duo before and after each of her meetings.

After he got off the phone with Hilde he attempted to sleep, but nightmares plagued him. It had taken years for him to bury the White Fang tragedy in his mind, but now it was raw and fresh again, and he was haunted by the screams of those children once again. His nightmares fused into some strange meld of the dying children, and Solo and Trowa killing each other.

He gave up on going back to sleep after waking up in a cold sweat for the third time, and parked himself on the couch and finished reading the book Heero had given him a few days ago.

When Heero entered the condo Duo could see how exhausted he was, and the slight limp he walked with. His face was covered in small, shallow cuts that looked like a window had exploded over him.

Duo frowned. Clearly there had been an attempt on Quatre's life, but he knew that Heero would have called him if Quatre was injured – or killed.

"You look like shit."

Heero smirked grimly.

"You should see the other guys."

"How many?"

Heero shrugged one shoulder and sat down on the couch beside Duo. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the couch.

"Four."

"Any collateral?" It went without saying that Heero had killed them.

"Quatre's office – his night secretary is probably going to quit and flee the country, but no injuries."

"Except yours."

"I'm fine," Heero growled.

"There's still glass sticking out of your cheek, Heero," Duo pointed out.

The other man frowned and then winced.

"I'll clean it before I go to bed." Heero sounded tired and despondent. Duo wouldn't go so far as to say that killing usually made Heero happy – but Heero was at least usually content with a job well done. And taking on four bad guys and keeping Quatre alive was definitely a job well done. Something was bothering him.

"Friends of yours?" Duo guessed.

Heero tensed, but then forced himself to relax.

"Yes. Two of them were Odin's grandsons."

"Fuck. I'm sorry."

Odin Lowe had been a special ops major in the United States Army and had trained Heero into the killing machine that he was today. He had also been one of the few humans to show Heero much kindness – Duo knew that Odin had always invited Heero over for dinner with his family and that, while still enlisted, Heero spent most of his leave time with Odin's family. To have to kill his grandsons must have been a terrible conflict for him.

"They fought well," Heero eventually said. "Odin would have been proud of them."

"Implying that he wouldn't have been proud of you? That's bullshit – you were fighting to protect someone's life. They were just hired killers."

"They were still his blood," Heero murmured. He shook his head and seemed to be making an effort to put the thoughts at the back of his mind. "The Emissary sent a message tonight – you and Quatre are invited to brunch at eleven."

Duo arched an eyebrow. "Really? Interesting… you coming?"

Heero nodded. "I need to get a few hours of sleep first." He sighed. "So just ask about Zechs and Trowa already."

"Okay… how do you know Zechs?"

"He was my last government assignment. I was given the task of killing him."

"He's still alive…" Duo pointed out.

Heero glared at him.

"He is my one failure. I was… foolish." Heero shook his head. "He caught me off guard and he could have killed me, but he let me go." Heero sneered. "He claimed that he didn't waste his time butchering pathetic humans. After that failure I… drifted for a while. I resigned my commission, and I spent a few years just wandering. But then Odin contacted me and told me that the government was allowing a vampire who murdered children settle permanently in the country and asked me to do something about it. I couldn't let that happen – and I had to know I could still do something."

"So you became a private contractor. Yeah – would this be back in the sixties? When I didn't hear from you for ten years?"

Heero nodded, still looking miserable.

"Zechs is a powerful bastard," Duo mused. "I don't think that I would stand a chance against him."

"I do. I can kill him. I will."

"Okay, well easy there tiger, we need a good reason first – you go and kill him now and the Council is going to make our lives a living hell."

Heero shrugged. "There was reason enough to kill him before – that hasn't gone away."

Which made Duo wonder just what Zechs had done to warrant the United States government sending their most deadly assassin after him in the first place. He wanted to ask, but at the same time, he really didn't want to know.

"The government has never wanted me dead, have they?" Duo asked. Because, surely, he had done worse things than Zechs.

"No, of course not. Every time I asked you for assistance I was able to bargain for your life."

"Wait, wait, so they do want me dead?"

"No," Heero sighed. "Back then – in the fifties – the Defense Department was just starting to accept the fact that there were Old Ones and Ephemerals, only a small fraction of people knew your kind existed. But everyone saw you – all of you – as a threat to human life. They wanted all of you dead, but there was a classification system of who represented the greatest threats. I was sent to deal with those who represented the greatest threat – you were never at the top of the list, but you were the first one on any list. They had information on you dating back to the Civil War."

"Fucking bastards. That was supposed to have been destroyed."

"Well, it wasn't. In any case, every time you assisted me, you moved farther and farther down the list of threats, until, by the time I left, you were in the green zone – potential allies."

"Huh." Duo was happy to know that the government didn't want him dead, but still not thrilled about the idea of a hit list of magical beings.

"More on this or do you want to ask about Trowa now?" Heero asked after a moment of silence.

"No, I'll ask about this later. What the hell were you thinking?" Duo demanded. "You fucked someone who would gladly rip my heart out right now."

Heero winced. "At the time he didn't want to," he pointed out.

"What did he want at the time?" Duo asked.

"He came by looking for you." Heero's face became very serious. "He does actually care about you. Aside from this Soul Mate bullshit – he…wants things to work between all three of us."

Duo snorted. "Not anymore, I'm betting."

Heero shrugged. "Tonight has obviously been a setback."

"One that I'm okay with – I do not have any interest in getting involved in some permanent threesome."

"Really?" Heero looked doubtful. "I can tell that you like him – that you still want to, despite what he is." Heero frowned. "I think, if you had known what he was all along, he still would have wound up in your bed."

"I've never been involved with a shape shifter."

"There's a reason why you are Soul Mates. Yes, it's a crazy Gypsy curse – but there's more to it. He's not like us. And that's why you need him."

"Not like us?" Duo mused.

"Not cold… not a killer. A fighter, yes, but he values life very differently than we do. And he's…he's your kind of stupid."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"He fights losing fights, and he cares about the ones that he can't save. Just like you." Heero's blue gaze seemed to be staring through all of Duo's defenses and straight down to his soul, to his darkest memories.

"I'm still waiting for the part where you thought it was a good idea to sleep with him."

"We got into a disagreement."

"About?"

"You. He's convinced that you aren't ever going to forgive him."

"Wait, wait. You got into a fight because you think I'm going to forgive him and he doesn't? Heero, what the hell –"

"Duo, usually you're more honest with yourself than this. You know you're going to forgive him. Especially now that he has something to hold over you – almost every relationship you've ever been in is the result of you trying to assuage your guilt."

Duo opened his mouth to argue but realized that Heero was completely right. He had never thought about it in those terms, but every meaningful relationship he had ever had – from Heero to Anthony to Solo and everyone in between – had, in part, been something he pursued out of a desire to make amends for something.

"Fuck," Duo muttered.

"It's not entirely healthy," Heero pointed out.

"Thanks for the support."

"I do support you. But that doesn't mean I'm blind to your faults, or the way your mind works. Or what emotions drive you the most."

Duo sighed.

"Yeah, I just didn't realize you knew that much about me."

Heero gave him a hard look.

"Of course I know that much about you. Even Quatre Winner knows that much about you. You wear your guilt like a sweater – it's there for anyone to see and manipulate."

"So you're saying that Trowa's going to –"

"No," Heero said quickly. "He's too used to be used by his masters. He isn't about to start playing those games with either of us. He knows they won't work, and the stakes are too high. He isn't interested in manipulating you."

"You know, for two guys who seem pretty quiet you two do a lot of chatting."

"We understand each other. Better than I thought we would."

"So…you got into a fight about me not forgiving him and then what? How did you go from that to fucking him?"

Heero drew in a breath and sat still for a moment, clearly trying to think of the best way to explain it.

"He's been a slave for most of his life – almost five thousand years. But he's not submissive. He's an alpha shape shifter and he's the son of a god and a Gypsy prince."

"I know."

"He doesn't want to belong to you – or to me, especially. Almost every night of his life he's been physically or sexually abused. Friday night – it started off too much like those other times."

Duo winced. He had been driven by his anger and desire to punish Trowa – but he had only wanted to make the other man angry and jealous. He had not wanted him to feel powerless or abused.

Heero shrugged. "He needed to know that it wasn't going to be like that."

"So he asked you to –"

"No, it just seemed the easiest way to show him that I considered him an equal, not a slave."

Duo shook his head. "Seriously, sex is not the solution to everything."

"It's easier than talking, sometimes," Heero muttered.

Duo chuckled at that. So often, for them, sex was easier than talking.

"I don't suppose that you took a break from all of this bonding to ask him if he had a Ephemeral servant who was a serial killer?"

Heero gave him a patronizing look.

"I asked him if he had a servant."

"And?"

"He said that Treize wasn't stupid, and would never allow someone as powerful as Trowa to have a servant. He also said that he wasn't enough of a masochist or a sadist to want a servant who would only be doomed to a life of torture."

Duo sighed. "So he didn't come out and say no."

Heero paused, then shook his head.

"No, but I really don't think he does have a servant."

"And I think it's a really strange coincidence that the serial killers concentration was broken at the same time that we were releasing a shit load of magical energy less than a block away."

"Does he – the Ephemeral have to be connected to one of you?"

"I'm pretty sure, yeah."

"But you don't know."

"No. Not for sure."

"We could try again."

Duo glared at him.

"No."

Heero shrugged and then smirked.

"Only a suggestion."

"Go get some sleep so we can go to this stupid brunch thing."

Heero stood and stretched his arms over his head. He smirked as he did so.

"What?"

"He is amazing in bed," Heero said.

Duo glared.

"Yeah, well, treasure the memory, because it's not going to happen again anytime soon," he growled, thinking of the look on Trowa's face when he had stormed out of Quatre's office.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Loews hotel on Lake Las Vegas was half an hour south of the city itself, and the weather was perfect for a bike ride. Duo knew that this was likely to be the last few moments of freedom he would have for who knew how long. Between dealing with a Council Emissary, the Council, Trowa, and the FBI's investigation of an Ephemeral serial killer, Duo wasn't likely to find a moment of peace.

When he and Heero arrived at the exclusive hotel Duo reluctantly handed the bike keys over to the valet and allowed him to ride it out of sight.

Heero chuckled at his nervousness.

"Hey, that baby is a beautiful machine – and some punk kid is riding it right now. I'm allowed to be anxious."

"Of course," Heero agreed, still smirking.

Duo rolled his eyes and led them inside, where they were instantly intercepted by a uniformed hotel staffer.

"You must be Duo Maxwell," the man said, his eyes darting to Duo's long braid of hair.

"That's me."

"Your party is already on the veranda – please, follow me."

"Veranda?" Heero muttered. "Does he want to die?"

Duo had to agree – he would prefer if Quatre was inside a windowless room, not on a veranda where any schmuck with a sniper rifle could take him out.

They arrived on the veranda and were greeted by the sound of a high, girlish laugh that Duo recognized instantly. Duo caught sight of Quatre's blonde head, and beyond him a woman Duo had not seen in more than a hundred years.

"Relena!" He called out.

She looked up and her blue eyes widened with delight. She grinned and rose to her feet.

"Duo Maxwell, you look as devastatingly handsome as always."

He smirked and sketched a brief bow to her.

"And you, as beautiful and charming as ever," he replied.

They neared the table and she rose so that he could embrace her. She looked beyond him to Heero.

"And who is this?"

"Heero Yuy, one of Quatre's bodyguards."

Heero nodded at Relena before moving to take a seat between Quatre and the lake. It didn't completely block the blonde man from potential snipers, but it did at least limit the range.

Duo took the open seat between Quatre and Relena, and nodded to Rashid, who was standing guard a few feet away.

"And why does such a delightful Ephemeral need so many bodyguards?" Relena asked as she resumed her seat and gazed between the three men.

Quatre sighed. "There's a contract out on my life – it expires at sundown today, actually."

"Hm. It sounds like someone didn't want you to meet me," Relena guessed.

"That – or it has something to do with the Council meeting tonight," Duo murmured.

"Regardless, we shouldn't let it spoil this occasion," Relena insisted. "I haven't seen Duo in ages and I'm hardly ever in the company of three exquisite men at the same time." She leaned back and shot Quatre a flirtatious look. "I wouldn't have thought it possible, but you are indeed an improvement over the last Arbiter."

Quatre flushed.

"Duo, you do have such refined tastes," Relena added with a happy sigh.

"He's not mine," Duo told her.

"Oh? But the null? Is he yours?" She glanced over at Heero, who was scanning the lake with a determined frown on his face.

"Yes," Duo said.

"And you never were good at sharing," she sighed and then shrugged before turning back to Duo with a smile. "Well, what have you been up to since I was last here?"

Relena had always been one of Jason's favorite and most trusted Council members. Unlike her brother, Zechs, Relena was a Light Court Faery who truly embodied the idea of a pure, good spirit. She might be boy crazy, but she meant well, and she always ensured that Jason's desires and orders were carried out. When the American Council had petitioned to have Duo executed, it had been Relena that Jason sent to hear their arguments. She had passed judgment – telling them that Duo could not be executed – and left before the Council had carried out their own justice and executed Anthony instead.

"I've been a bit of a nomad," Duo confessed. "I've wandering around the country for the last hundred years until Quatre asked me to be his Consigliore."

Relena arched an eyebrow. "You left the Council? Why?"

Duo swallowed hard. "They executed Anthony." He shrugged. "I know Jason has a soft spot for me, but after I killed Noventa I figured I should take a break from magic before I got carried away."

"We heard he had…passed. No one mentioned that you had killed him, however."

Duo nodded.

"You always did get attached to your servants," Relena chastised. She shook her head and turned her gaze back to Quatre. "And you, Arbiter, I have already heard that you are every bit the troublemaker that Anthony Quinn was."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Quatre said, and Duo had to grin at that.

Relena laughed. "Yes, I expect you would. While I admire the fact that you are trying to create a world of justice and equality, I must caution you that we are used to things moving at a very slow pace."

Quatre frowned.

"I can understand that – but there are times when action must occur. We are at the beginning of a new order – this is the first time in the history of the world that magical beings and magic users are recognized and not persecuted for their talents. However, there is still so much we don't understand about each other, and so many traditions that are counter-active to the way that American society works. If we don't act to resolve these potential conflicts, I fear that disaster will be the only outcome."

Relena nodded. "Well said, Arbiter. Jason and I had nearly the same discussion before I left him." She turned back to Duo. "He had no idea you were no longer serving the Council. He gave me specific orders for you."

"Oh?" Duo smirked. He hadn't had an order from Jason in nearly four hundred years.

"He feels that Treize is attempting to create a situation that will force the American government to grant him, as the Head of the Council, the ability to rule over all other magical beings."

Duo frowned. "Doesn't he already have that?"

"Not anymore – not since your government legislated that magical beings are subject to American law and jurisdiction. Treize has to accede to the Arbiter's will in any matter that overlaps with humans."

"So what is Treize up to, then?"

"Jason believes that he is trying to create a conflict that will demonstrate just how powerless the humans are without HIM ruling over all magical beings."

Duo frowned. The simmering tension between the shape shifters and the Council seemed like a perfect situation for Treize. If he allowed the shape shifters to start a revolution that could potentially harm humans and draw them into the conflict, it could certainly play in his favor. Likewise, the serial killer on the loose could present Treize with the perfect situation for having to step in.

"That sounds like Treize," Duo conceded. "What did Jason want me to do?"

"He wanted you to find an excuse to execute him," Relena stated before taking a sip of the mimosa in front of her.

Duo arched an eyebrow and then looked over at Quatre. The blonde man was frowning.

"Relena, they do things a little differently here – just ask Quatre," Duo nodded to him.

"I respect the Old Council – and their fears for our situation," Quatre began, "but Duo can't just go around killing people because they might cause problems in the future. Under our legal system Treize is innocent until proven guilty of a crime – and right now all we can do is think that he will commit a crime. He hasn't even done anything yet."

"I see." Relena sounded disappointed, but the look on her face as she smiled at Quatre told Duo that she was also impressed. Not even Anthony had stood up to her this much when they had met.

"Then perhaps Duo can simply promise to keep an eye on events as they develop, and if the occasion arises, take the appropriate measures to ensure the survival of both humans and magical beings?" She suggested.

Quatre's lips twitched upwards into a smile. "Perhaps," he agreed. "But he is no longer the Council Executioner."

"Not your Council's Executioner," Relena argued, "but he is still – and always will be – an Executioner for the Old Council."

Quatre looked at Duo in surprise. Duo shrugged.

"It was part of the deal I made with Jason when I asked to leave. I'm still his to call on, should the need arise."

"I didn't know that. So what would happen if Jason demanded that you execute me?" Quatre asked.

Duo hadn't given the possibility much thought, but in light of recent events, it no longer seemed like an impossibility. If Treize messed things up enough, Jason might decide to scrap everyone and want the Arbiter and the Head of the Council dead.

He glanced at Relena, and she seemed just as interested in hearing his answer as Quatre was. Heero, of course, was still on sentry duty and while Duo had no doubt that he was hearing every word, his face was blank.

"Well…I've disobeyed Jason before," Duo drawled. "It's been a while – he could use the excitement."

"His patience with you is not infinite," Relena pointed out.

"I'll take my chances, princess," Duo responded. "Killing Quatre wouldn't make any situation better. He's the future of our kind – and the sooner that Treize, and Jason, and everyone else realize that the better off we will all be."

"The future, hm?" Relena smiled again at Quatre and winked at him. "I certainly agree with that."

Quatre smiled uncertainly, but sent Duo a panicked look.

Duo, meanwhile, had to cough to cover his sudden, uncontrollable urge to laugh. It was very obvious that Relena was taken with Quatre – more taken than she had been with Anthony, even – and that the blonde man had no idea what to do about her advances.

"How is Jason?" Duo asked, forcing Relena to break eye contact with Quatre.

"Bored. He misses the old days and he misses you, actually." She rolled her eyes and smirked at him. "He wanted me to tell you that you can return at any time and you would be welcome."

Duo shook his head. "That's very generous…but I'm never going back, Relena. Surely he knows that."

"It doesn't stop him from dreaming," she murmured. "Can you really blame him? I certainly understand his fixation with you." She sighed. "I don't suppose - ?"

Now it was Duo's turn to blush. Relena really was incredibly sweet and very intelligent, but her appetite for sex was disconcerting when you looked at her. She seemed like such a good, innocent girl. But Duo had known her for long enough to know that sex was always on her mind.

"Relena, now really isn't a good time. It's not you," he hastened to add when she started to frown, "it's me. I – " he tried to think of any excuse to not jump into bed with her. She wouldn't accept the fact that he and Heero were together – knowing her she would simply insist that they BOTH join her.

"He has a Soul Mate," Heero helpfully supplied. "Who is very possessive."

Duo frowned. He hadn't really wanted Relena OR Quatre to know about that, but it was a legitimate excuse. Come to think of it, Trowa was on the possessive side, so it wasn't even a lie.

He shrugged.

"Sorry."

"A Soul Mate? You?" Relena leaned forward. "Do tell."

Duo wanted to sink under the table. If there was one thing that Relena liked almost as much as sex it was romance.

Quatre, however had gone pale.

"Is it –"

Duo frowned at him, and Quatre shook his head.

"Oh Duo."

"Well?" Relena prompted, looking between them.

Duo sighed. "It's kind of a long story."

"And we have all afternoon to enjoy the sunlight, good food, and good stories," Relena pointed out. "Don't spoil this for me, Duo. I hardly ever get to see you – and now you have a Soul Mate!" She looked to Heero. "It isn't the null, is it?"

"No," Duo told her reluctantly. She continued to look expectant, and even Quatre looked eager for details.

"Okay, fine. He's… a shape shifter."

Relena's eyes went comically wide.

"A shape shifter is your Soul Mate?"

"The irony isn't lost on me," he assured her.

"But that's terrible. Oh, Duo –"

"It isn't terrible," Quatre interrupted, a fierce scowl on his face, "a shape shifter is an Old One, just as Duo is – just as you are. They shouldn't be treated like second class citizens. Duo's Soul Mate is an honorable man, and Duo is lucky to have him."

Relena looked amused. "I'm sorry if I offended you, Arbiter, I was merely referring to the fact that with Duo's history, a shape shifter is the most unlikely of Soul Mates for him. After all, ever since his childhood –"

"Okay, we're getting a bit off track here," Duo jumped in before Relena could tell more of his secrets than he wanted anyone else to know.

There had been a time when he and Relena had been very close. He had enjoyed sharing her bed – she was enthusiastic and very, very skilled – and he counted her as one of his few friends. Over the centuries he had told her about himself, details from his life before his service to the Council, but they weren't things he wanted either Quatre or Heero to know about him. As far as he was concerned, they had all the dark and twisty details about him that they needed.

"So, my Soul Mate is a shape shifter. We're very happy together," he added, giving Quatre a hard look when he opened his mouth to argue, and Relena smiled.

"Good. You deserve to be happy. Even if it is with an unlikely mate." She looked over at Heero. "And where does he come into things?"

Duo smiled lasciviously. "He comes wherever he wants to," he assured her.

Relena giggled and blushed. He saw Heero's lips twitch.

"Duo!" She swatted his arm playfully, but Duo knew she was even now picturing him with Heero.

She sighed and shook her head.

"Well, I really do wish we could sit here all afternoon, but I have a meeting with my brother soon."

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"Nothing like a family reunion to ruin a lovely day."

She scowled.

"One day I will be able to understand just what goes on in his head, but that day certainly isn't going to be anytime soon."

Quatre frowned in confusion.

"Your brother?"

"Zechs Merquise," she explained. "We share very little aside from lovely hair and blue eyes."

Duo smirked at that. It was very true. Their personalities and their magic were as different as two siblings possibly could be.

"Well, we won't keep you," Duo said and stood. Quatre and Heero followed suit.

Relena walked with them through the hotel and to the front entrance. Rashid went ahead to retrieve Quatre's car, and Duo, Quatre, Relena, and Heero waited inside.

"It was delightful to meet you," Relena said and kissed Quatre on both cheeks. "I have every confidence that you will do wonderful things as the Arbiter." She smirked at Duo and Heero. "If these two can keep you alive, in any case."

Almost as if her words were an invitation, Duo saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He reacted at the same moment as Heero, and threw himself in front of Relena just as Heero tackled Quatre.

The sound of gunfire echoed loudly through the lobby.

Duo looked down to see Quatre and Heero on the floor.

"I'm fine," Quatre said, answering Duo's unspoken question.

"As am I," Relena assured Duo.

It was all the permission Duo needed, he took off after the assassin – a uniformed staffer now sprinting down a long hall out of sight – and left Heero to watch over Quatre and Relena.

The man was almost out of sight and Duo cast a wave of pain in his direction. The man stumbled and cried out, but kept moving, turning a corner and vanishing from Duo's sight.

Duo chased him down two more corridors, always just out of shooting range, until he saw a third turn.

As Duo rounded the corner he drew his gun, cautiously peeking around and almost getting his head blown off for his troubles. He sent another wave of pain as well as a few shots in the direction of the assassin. He was rewarded with a grunt of pain.

Duo leapt out into the corridor, sighting down his gun, and was able to put two more shots into the assassin before the man could raise his gun.

The man went still, slumping against a wall and dropping to the floor.

Duo cautiously approached, keeping his gun out and projecting enough pain and fear that the assassin would be crippled if he were even still alive.

He crouched down beside the body and felt for a pulse. There was none.

Digging through his pockets revealed nothing more than spare ammo, a knife, and another gun. He had no identification of any kind, nor a phone. Even his appearance was bland and generic enough that Duo never would have been able to pick him out of a crowd.

It felt very wrong to just leave the body there, but Duo wanted to get back to Heero and Quatre in case this had simply been a diversion. He stood up and backed away from the body, keeping his gun drawn.

When he made it back to the lobby the distant wail of sirens filled the air and there was a crowd of people obscuring the front doors where Duo had left the others. He pushed his way through the crowd and then froze.

Quatre was kneeling on the floor, and Heero's head was cradled in his lap. A pool of blood stained the floor under them.

"Duo –"

Whatever Relena said was completely lost to Duo as he dropped to his knees and reached for Heero. His skin had gone pale, and his eyes were vacant and distant.

The world seemed to stop moving as Duo felt for a pulse.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Thirteen

It was the first time that Duo had been in a hospital, and he hated it immediately. It smelled of chemicals and death and it made his skin crawl.

He had four hours to determine just HOW much he hated the smells. In that time he also had the opportunity to catalog the horrifyingly bad artwork and to test each of the types of seats the waiting room held – from the loveseats to the single chairs to the couches to the benches – and decided that they were all equally uncomfortable.

In that same amount of time he had also envisioned all of the ways that Heero might be dying in an operating room while Duo was stuck in the waiting room, sandwiched between Quatre and a crying family of three.

Quatre had given up trying to comfort him after the first hour, when it became obvious that Duo couldn't be comforted.

At some point Hilde and Wufei arrived. Since the assassination attempt had been aimed at Quatre, a magic user, the crime fell within their jurisdiction.

Hilde also tried to comfort Duo, reaching out with her magic to offer him support, but he cut her off. He was too overwhelmed with his own darkness to even dream of letting her in, and he didn't want to burden her with his pain.

They had left eventually, although both promised to return in a few hours, and Duo and Quatre were left alone to continue waiting.

Finally, when Duo was on the verge of charging back and finding Heero himself, a doctor emerged and called out Duo's name.

"What's happening?" Duo demanded, jumping up from a bench and rushing over, Quatre close behind.

The doctor frowned.

"I'm sorry, Mr. ah… Mr. Yuy," he was flipping through paperwork, not meeting Duo's gaze, and he suddenly had a very bad feeling. "Mr. Yuy didn't have any proof of insurance in his wallet. Only a driver's license and a card giving you power of attorney, Mr. Maxwell."

Duo's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe that his lover may very well be DYING and this doctor dared to discuss insurance. Not only that, but he was shocked that Heero carried any identification, and shocked even more that he had thought ahead enough to give Duo the ability to act for him in such a situation.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Robins?" Quatre placed an a hand on Duo's arm, squeezing his tense muscles in warning while at the same time sending soothing thoughts his way. "But whatever insurance issues there may be, I'm sure we can resolve later. In the meantime, do you have any update on Mr. Yuy's condition?" There was a polite overtone to the iron in Quatre's voice.

"Um… yes. Yes of course. Mr. Yuy was hit with a silver disintegration bullet."

"What is that?" Quatre asked.

"It's a new type of ammunition. We've only seen it in injuries over the past year, ever since the new legislation legalizing magic users was passed. The bullet disintegrates on impact, and the silver particles disperse in the body. The point of impact for Mr. Yuy was his sternum, which, unfortunately, means that the bullet hit bone and broke into incredibly small pieces. Several of those pieces have traveled towards his lungs, and some are moving towards his heart." Robins shook his head. "It's strange, his body seems to already be attempting to heal itself – his skin and blood are replenishing at an astounding rate. Is Mr. Yuy a magic user?"

Duo frowned. He didn't like the idea of giving any information about Heero to a stranger, but he didn't want to withhold anything that could save his life.

"No," he eventually said, "but his blood does have some of the healing ability that Dark Court Faeries have."

Robins nodded and scribbled a note.

"That's good to know. That explains why his blood is being so severely poisoned by the silver. His immune system is shutting down, and his body keeps forcing the silver deeper into itself as it tries to heal."

Duo closed his eyes and shook his head.

"What – how is he now?"

Robins shook his head.

"We've been operating for the last four hours. We were able to remove some of the silver, but he's losing too much blood. Dr. Jones – the lead doctor – wants to wait and see how his body reacts to the surgery, allow him to recover, and then try and remove the rest."

"But if the silver gets into his lungs –" Duo started.

"We won't let it get that far. We're monitoring him closely."

"So, you're confident that you can save him?" Quatre asked.

Robins hesitated.

"We're doing everything that we can."

Duo frowned at the very obvious dodge to the question.

"Can I see him?"

Robins hesitated again, but then he shrugged.

"He's in ICU right now, but yes, I'll show you where he is."

"And I'll discuss his insurance situation with you," Quatre offered as they started to walk down a corridor that smelled even worse.

"Yes, that would be good," the doctor said in a relieved tone that made Duo want to hit him.

As soon as Duo caught sight of Heero behind the glass doors his heart stopped beating.

Heero looked impossibly pale, and tubes seemed to be coming out of his body at every angle. Monitors displayed lines and numbers, none of which made any sense to Duo.

He felt completely numb as he approached the bed. Heero's hand was cold as he held it in his, and Duo felt a hard lump settle in his throat. Breathing became difficult and he realized that there was every possibility that this might be one of the last times he saw Heero alive.

"Duo."

It was Hilde's voice, and it was filled with the same anguish and devastation that Duo himself felt.

He turned to see Quatre, Hilde, and Wufei standing in the door to Heero's room. When Duo had first entered the room there had been a few rays of orange and red light streaming in, but now it was twilight outside.

It took him a moment to focus himself enough, but he managed to shut down all of his emotions and block out his connection with Hilde. Her eyes widened when he did so, but he didn't miss the minute shrug of relief she gave.

Duo had expected Quatre's eyes to be filled with pity, but instead the Ephemeral looked determined, and his eyes had a hard look in them.

"The Council meeting is in an hour. Wufei has volunteered to stay here and watch Heero. He will call us with any information they give him, and let us know when he goes into surgery again – and when he comes back out."

"Yeah, okay." Duo looked over at Wufei, and for once the Chinese man didn't look as though he was spoiling for a fight. "You –"

"I will protect him with my life," Wufei interrupted.

Duo scowled, but nodded.

"You need to shower and change clothes," Quatre continued.

"I –"

"Duo, you're covered in Heero's blood."

He looked down at himself and saw the stains on his shirt and khakis. He hadn't even noticed them before. Perhaps that was why the other families in the waiting room had avoided him.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," Duo argued. "He's in this hospital because someone wants you dead and I'm not going to let some jackass finish the job."

"We'll go with you," Hilde spoke up.

"Duo."

He looked back at Quatre.

"Someone will pay for this. It's clear that the Council is afraid of me and what we can do. Well, they're about to have their fear justified. This will not be tolerated or forgotten."

The steel in Quatre's voice soothed Duo. He was gratified that Quatre seemed as angry and vengeful over Heero's wound as he did, and he was grateful that he wouldn't have to convince Quatre that the Council had been behind this and needed a wakeup call.

He nodded.

"I think they've forgotten just how pissed off the God of Death can get."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deathscythe was the tool Duo used to punish, but for executions he used a different weapon.

He knew nothing about his parents, and had no relic or memory of them save for one.

Father Ian Maxwell had traveled to Jerusalem in 966 with a teenaged acolyte named Solomon. While there, Solomon had followed a strange, magical thread to a dark side alley and discovered an abandoned basket filled with rags. Buried under the rags had been an infant, and buried under the infant, wrapped in a rich velvet cloth, had been a scimitar made of pure silver.

Finding Duo had been the first magic that Solo had experienced, and the Ephemeral had taken it as a sign from God that his calling was to protect Duo and use his magic to protect others weaker than himself.

For Duo, the scimitar had become a constant companion, and as a child he had spent hours practicing with the weapon until he could use it with ease.

It wasn't the easiest weapon to conceal, but the new leather duster that Duo had purchased covered the scimitar and its scabbard across his back better than he could have expected. He knew he looked intimidating in his solid black clothing, and it mirrored his mood.

When he, Hilde, and Quatre were escorted into the Council hall the rest of the group were already assembled. Duo was surprised to find that all Council members were present. For the previous meeting, there had been a few empty thrones, but tonight all nine were occupied.

As he scanned the room he spotted Sally Po in one of the thrones, and he was taken aback. He never would have guessed that the dryad was a Council member, and the knowledge that she WAS and hadn't told him certainly made her more interesting. It was beyond belief that a Council member would collaborate with an illegal pack of shape shifters.

Duo noticed that Alexios was flanked by both his human servant and by Martha. The shape shifter was in human form and she looked terrible. It was clear that Alexios had been abusing her and not allowing her to shift into animal form – bruises and lacerations decorated her visible skin, and when she turned to look at the new arrivals Duo actually stumbled. The right side of her face was a deep, open wound, and her right eye was gone. The wound was a horrible parody of the damage she had inflicted on Alexios.

Beside him Hilde noticed the wound as well and hissed in anger. He could feel her rage through their connection, but couldn't be bothered to calm her. Duo had never had much toleration for Alexios, and this only solidified his disgust.

Once again, Quatre had been relegated to a lonely chair across the hall from Treize. Quatre gamely took the chair and sat on it as regally as any Council member.

Duo allowed himself to look for Trowa. Instead of being in his lion form, the shape shifter was in his human form, dressed very formally in a white tuxedo that Duo could swear looked almost exactly like the one he had worn at Chippendales. He was kneeling down beside Treize's throne, as though he was a pet, and the look on his face was the blank expression that Duo already knew meant that he was furious.

He wondered if he was angry over Martha.

As though Trowa knew he was the subject of Duo's thoughts, the man turned to look at Duo.

The movement revealed a flash of light, and Duo noticed the silver collar and leather leash around Trowa's neck.

"Son of a –" he started forward involuntarily, and only Hilde grabbing his arm stopped him.

"Duo!" She followed his gaze to Trowa. "What?"

"Trowa's on a fucking leash," Duo muttered.

She frowned.

"Trow – Duo, please tell me that your boyfriend slash Soul Mate is not Treize's pet."

"He isn't a pet," Duo growled. He realized that he couldn't feel Trowa's pain, and he wondered if that was because he was blocking out everyone, or because Trowa was blocking HIM out.

"Duo –" Hilde started again, her voice bordering between pity and exasperation.

Any further conversation between them was delayed by Trieze speaking up.

"It seems the Emissary has been delayed," Treize began, giving Zechs a pointed look. The faerie shrugged in apology.

"While we are waiting," Quatre spoke up, and while his voice still had a polite veneer, there was an underlying anger and force that hadn't been there before, "perhaps we could discuss a few issues?"

Treize arched an eyebrow in amusement.

"Such as?"

"It has come to my attention that a group of shape shifters were recently attacked by several Council members, and that three were actually killed."

"Really?" Treize asked, his voice filled with surprise.

"The police are currently investigating, and as the Arbiter –"

"Have any of these shifters actually come forward and given statements?" It was clear from Treize's tone of voice that if any shifter had they would be severely punished.

Trowa's gaze narrowed at the tone.

Quatre shrugged. "The police feel they have enough evidence to begin an investigation and they will do so. Council members may be questioned by the police, and they are expected to fully cooperate with this investigation."

Treize smirked.

"I'm sure they will," he assured Quatre in his most patronizing tone.

"Dorothy isn't here," Hilde murmured in Duo's ear.

He looked, and sure enough, no one stood behind Zechs' throne.

"You don't think –" she started.

"I think it's damn strange that you wouldn't have your full entourage when the Emissary from the Old Council visits. Especially if that Emissary is your little sister."

Duo couldn't shake the feeling that the only logical reason for Dorothy's absence was because she was physically unable to make it. Which could only mean that she was dead.

"Additionally, the police are investigating a serial killer, a magic user who has only targeted nulls until recently," Quatre continued.

Duo caught a few Council members looking in Zechs' direction, which as much as convinced him that Dorothy had indeed been killed.

"Damnit," Hilde said beside him, obviously coming to the same conclusion.

"And would you like us to cooperate with that investigation as well?" Treize asked.

"It doesn't matter what I would like," Quatre said. "The law stipulates that you must cooperate with any investigation involving a magic user. At this time I am merely suggesting that this serial killer poses an increasing risk to magic users and to this Council."

"Thank you for the warning, but –"

"I'm so sorry to be late," Relena's clear voice rang out, interrupting Treize.

She swept into the room like a fresh breeze, and her mere presence seemed to ease tension from many of the Council members, and Duo noticed Quatre sit up straighter as she approached him.

"Arbiter," she greeted him, ignoring protocol and Treize.

Quatre inclined his head to her.

"Why on earth on you sitting on a folding chair across the room from the Head of the Council?" Though she posed the question to Quatre, her gaze was on Treize.

"Duo likes to be close to the exit," he assured her.

Relena looked away from Treize to Duo, and her large eyes were full of sympathy. She reached out and ran a hand across his cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.

"Well, perhaps he has the right idea." She snapped her fingers imperiously, a woman clearly used to having her every desire fulfilled.

Sure enough, only a moment later two of Treize's human servants came out bearing an ornate wooden chair and, after a moment of hesitation, placed it beside Quatre's.

Relena sat down and turned a brilliant smile to the rest of the room.

"Jason sends his regards to all Council members and hopes that you, in particular, Treize, are doing well."

Treize inclined his head fractionally.

"He is too kind."

"Hm. Yes. He also wanted me to offer you a trade – your Executioner for his."

Duo frowned and looked at Relena.

"But apparently," Relena continued, "you don't have an Executioner, despite the fact that it is Council law."

Treize's mouth became a small, pinched line. He glared at Duo, who shrugged. He had nothing to do with this.

"He left of his own volition," Treize pointed out.

Relena hummed.

"Yes, and did you report this to Jason?"

Treize was silent.

"I know that you – like myself – prefer the older, slower means of communication. Perhaps your letter informing Jason has not yet arrived? When did Duo Maxwell decide to abandon his post as the Executioner?"

Treize's eyes narrowed, and Duo experienced a moment of grim satisfaction.

"It has been some time. Perhaps my missive was lost entirely?" Treize suggested.

"Perhaps." Relena turned her gaze to Duo. "And you, Executioner? Your negotiations with Jason three hundred years ago were based upon you continuing to serve him."

"As I do," Duo assured her, wondering why they were repeating this conversation. "I will always serve Jason."

"Very well, then serve him now and return to your role as Executioner for this Council. OR you may return home with me."

Duo could feel the weight of most of the Council's gaze on him.

"Relena, I cannot return to Jason's court. I swore that I wouldn't."

She inclined her head. "An oath that he respects, even if he doesn't understand." She sighed and gestured to Treize's throne. "Then you will once again serve this Council?"

Duo hesitated. After Anthony's death, he had promised himself never to be subject to the whim's of the Council again. Furthermore, he couldn't imagine serving Treize in such a capacity, especially since the vampire would use it to his advantage. There was simply no way that Treize wouldn't try to pit Duo against Quatre.

"I am the Consigliore for the Arbiter, and I simply don't see how I can serve both HIM and act as Executioner."

"That does seem to be a dilemma. Especially when this very Council has tried to have him killed."

Relena turned her blue gaze back to Treize, and her eyes were noticeably colder.

"Can you explain just how it is that this afternoon both the Arbiter and myself nearly lost our lives? Only the quick thinking of your errant Executioner saved us."

It wasn't entirely the truth, but Duo was completely fine with her leaving out any mention of Heero – he didn't want Treize or any of the Council aware of his existence.

Zechs looked interested, however, and Duo mentally cursed. The faerie was simply too smart.

"I offer my deepest apologies that you were ever in harm's way," Treize said, "but I fail to see your rationale in believing that this Council is responsible for an assassination attempt."

"Perhaps not the Council as a whole, but certainly someone on your Council. "

"I will certainly look into the possibility," Treize assured her.

"I would rather the Executioner do the investigating. He is, after all, a more impartial judge."

Treize and Duo locked gazes.

It seemed that he wasn't going to be given a choice in the matter at all. It was also obvious that Treize wanted him just as little as he wanted to be involved.

"Relena, there's still the issue of –"

She waved a hand at Duo to silence him.

"Yes, yes, of course. Which brings me to Jason's next point of business. We are aware that in the New World the Arbiter is traditionally an Ephemeral who belongs to a Council member. However, the present Arbiter is the servant of no one."

"I would be delighted to change that," Treize offered.

Duo snorted a laugh at the eagerness in his voice.

"By taking him as your servant or by replacing him with one of your servants?" Relena mused, a smirk on her face.

Treize offered her a sour expression.

"Jason would like you to adopt the Old custom," she continued.

"The Old custom?" Hilde whispered to Duo.

"In Europe the Arbiter is a Council member," Duo explained to her.

He wondered just WHAT Jason thought he could accomplish by forcing this issue. Treize would never allow Quatre to challenge for a seat on the Council – and Duo had serious doubts that Quatre could even win a seat, or hold it.

From the looks on most of the Council members faces they shared his thoughts.

"Perhaps Jason is unaware of the limitations of this Arbiter. Perhaps he has confused him with Anthony Quinn?"

"Oh no, Jason is very aware of the talents of this particular Arbiter," Relena smugly corrected him.

Treize looked furious, and Duo didn't blame him – Relena had just informed the vampire that he had spies on his own Council.

"Surely we aren't going to waste our time tonight and allow the human to challenge one of us?" Urshanabi spoke up.

"Are you suggesting that obeying the will of Jason is a waste of your time, Urshanabi?" Relena asked, her voice sweet and dangerously demure. "For if you are, I am quite confident that the Executioner – who has sworn to obey and protect Jason – will be more than happy to show you just how wrong you are."

Duo would not be happy to do that – but he was confident that he could kill Urshanabi, especially considering the mood he was in tonight. All the same, he had no particular issues with the boatman, and didn't want to kill him over such a trivial insult.

"Of course not," Urshanabi said. "The will of Jason is the will of us all."

Relena smiled and turned back to Treize.

"Well?" She prompted.

"If the Arbiter wishes to challenge for a seat on this Council, then of course he may do so. It seems such an awful waste for him to be killed this early in his career, but if that is the will of Jason, far be it from me to argue it." Treize sneered.

Quatre turned to Duo.

"What the hell are they talking about?" He whispered.

"Relena just signed your death warrant. You need to pick a Council member to challenge for their seat."

"Challenge?"

"A fight to the death."

Quatre's eyes widened. Duo patted his arm and scanned the Council. His eyes landed on Sally Po, easily the weakest Council member and likely the only one that Quatre stood any chance of defeating.

Sally met his gaze and nodded, as if accepting his choice. Duo frowned. The dryad was certainly a unique woman. But Quatre was the Arbiter, and it was Duo's duty to protect him.

"Quatre, Sally –"

"I challenge Alexios," Quatre spoke up, startling everyone.

The Greek vampire laughed out loud.

"Very well. I gladly accept!" Alexios rose from his throne and moved to the center of the room.

"Are there – any rules?" Quatre asked, standing as well.

"Don't fucking die," Duo snapped at him, furious that Quatre was doing this.

Alexios might not be the strongest Council member – but he was certainly strong enough to defeat a human as weak as Quatre. The Ephemeral was an Empath – not an ability that lent itself to fighting.

"Here," Duo started to unsheathe his scimitar, but Quatre waved him back.

"I don't need it," Quatre assured him.

"For the love of – please tell me you don't plan on trying to reason with him?"

Quatre didn't answer, but instead strode confidently into the center of the room and came to a stop only a few feet away from Alexios.

"At least he doesn't have a weapon," Hilde pointed out.

Duo snorted. "He doesn't need one. He's a fifteen hundred year old vampire. He moves ten times faster than a human and is ten times stronger. He can rip Quatre's head off with his bare hands and not even work up a sweat."

Hilde paled.

"Are you going to do something?"

"What?" Duo demanded. "If I interfere then Quatre immediately forfeits and he gets executed. And I'm sorry, but I'm not up to killing Quatre Winner tonight. Especially since my – since Heero is dying."

It was not lost on Duo that Quatre was throwing away the life that Heero had worked so hard to save, and he felt rage start to simmer within him.

"But –"

"I'm trying to think of something," he assured Hilde.

There was absolutely no way he would allow Alexios to kill Quatre. He looked over at Relena.

"As Executioner, am I –"

"Duo, this fight belongs to the Arbiter," she interrupted him, her voice firm. "Allow him to win it."

Duo scowled, but turned back to see Quatre and Alexios bow to each other.

"Fuck this," Duo muttered to himself and started forward.

He got no more than four feet before a cloud of magic erupted from Quatre and spilled over the room. Duo felt the warm sunshine of Quatre's magic wash over him and then force its way into his mind. He staggered from the force of the invasion.

Around the hall it was clear that the rest of the Council and their entourages were also being affected by the magic. Several were clutching their heads, as though trying to keep Quatre out of their minds.

Alexios was completely frozen in place, a look of increasing fear on his face.

Duo could feel the magic rifling through his memories, tugging at some, discarding others.

Abruptly he was forced to relieve the memory of the night he had first met Anthony Quinn.

Council meetings under Noventa often ended in a literal orgy of blood and sex. Duo had never participated in them – he had had his fill of them when he served Jason and he had no interest in being the plaything of any Council member or leader again. He usually made his escape as soon as possible, but one night he had had to stay behind and discuss the increasing threat of a war between the states with Noventa, and the possibility of the southerners using necromancers to aid their armies.

By the time he had finished the after-Council party was in full swing. Duo had skirted the action, but before he could reach the door he had encountered Alexios.

Jason had never respected the Greek vampire, and neither did Duo. Jason despised his manners more than anything else – while Duo was disgusted with the vampire's desire to punish and molest his victims to within an inch of their life. Alexios was incredibly weak for being as old as he was, and Duo suspected that he took out his insecurities on anyone weaker than himself in an effort to appear stronger.

Jason thought it was the height of ignorance and bad grace to eat and fuck at the same time. The ancient hero believed that food was one thing, and a bedmate entirely another. For the hundred years that Duo had shared Jason's bed the Head of the Council had certainly had his fill of Duo's blood, but never during sex. Only after, and he had always treated the experience as a nearly sacred one – after all, it was Duo's blood that allowed him to live.

Alexios, on the other hand, frequently mixed the two, and it was rare that his partners were anything but victims. Duo had disrupted enough of Alexios' attempts to rape Council servants over the years to know that the man cared little for the willingness of his food or his lovers. In fact, Duo was confident he preferred them to be unwilling.

That evening Alexios had managed to procure a young boy, clearly no more than eighteen or twenty, with golden hair and enormous green eyes that stood out on his pale face.

By the time Duo came upon them, Alexios had the boy stripped and was "nibbling" on him – taking shallow bites from the pale skin exposed to him. The boy was writhing in pain, but he wasn't crying out, and the look in his eyes wasn't fear or pain – but rage.

Those eyes had locked onto Duo's as he passed, and Duo had been frozen in place. A moment later he had been overwhelmed by sensations – pain, cold, and anger.

It took him a moment to realize that the emotions were coming from the boy, that he was an Empath, and that he was projecting them to Duo in a silent plea for help.

Duo couldn't believe that the boy was strong enough to be able to do it, or that he had so easily gotten through the mental defenses that Duo kept up at all times.

He was irritated and intrigued.

"Let him go, Alexios," he told the vampire.

The Greek looked up at him, his beautiful face smeared with blood.

"Go find your own toy, Maxwell," Alexios hissed and returned to his feast, taking a bite from the boy's inner thigh.

Duo hissed at the feeling of pain the boy sent him.

"Let him go," Duo repeated.

Alexios stood up and glared at Duo.

"Or what? You have no authority to intervene – I've broken no laws. Or would you like Noventa to return you to your silver box for another ten years?"

Duo winced.

Noventa knew that Duo was untouchable – Jason would happily order the execution for anyone who tried to kill Duo, let alone anyone who succeeded. But that didn't mean that Noventa allowed Duo free reign. Whenever he wanted to, Noventa took the opportunity to remind Duo that he was merely a servant at this court, and he punished him for any infraction. Most recently, Noventa had ordered Duo locked into a silver coffin for ten years after Duo had prevented Alexios from feeding on and raping a juvenile boy. Duo had only been out of the coffin for a month, and his skin still felt raw in places from the poisoning.

"You're a disgusting piece of filth," Duo responded and threw Alexios against the wall, hoping the boy would take the opportunity to try and escape.

As Alexios and Duo struggled, the boy did indeed try to escape, but he was apprehended at the door by no less than Noventa.

"Duo, I wanted to discuss something else with you," Noventa said, his tone mild. He used one hand to restrain the struggling boy. "But it seems that you, once again, have an agenda of your own. What happened here?" He asked Alexios.

"The Executioner tried to interfere with my eating, again." Alexios struggled under Duo's grip.

"Release him, Executioner," Noventa ordered.

Furious, Duo shoved Alexios away from him, taking pleasure when the man tripped and fell onto his ass.

"This is not the Old Council, and I am not enthralled with you as Jason was," Noventa said, his voice cold. "It seems as though you WANT to return to your coffin."

Duo glared at him.

"No," Alexios spoke up. "I want him in chains. This is the fifth time he has interrupted my meals since he emigrated. Clearly the coffin isn't working."

Noventa arched an eyebrow.

"Oh? And wrapping him in silver chains will?"

"He needs to understand just where his place is," Alexios explained, and the look on his face promised agony.

Noventa chuckled.

"Very well." He snapped the fingers of his free hand and his two servants appeared. "Take him to the dungeon and secure him well," he ordered the two.

As they escorted Duo from the room Noventa looked down at the boy, as though just remembering him.

"And who is this?"

"My new toy," Alexios hissed, directing a smirk in Duo's direction.

"He's an Empath," Noventa mused. "A damned powerful one too. I could feel him from upstairs."

Alexios nodded, a look of pride on his face.

"What's your name, human?" Noventa asked.

The boy remained silent.

Noventa dug his fingers into one of the open wounds Alexios had made with his teeth.

"Anthony," the boy hissed. "Anthony Quinn."

"Hm."

Noventa shoved the boy in Alexios' direction.

"Don't kill him. He may prove useful."

"I'll keep him alive," Alexios promised.

A promise he kept. At twice a week for the next three years Alexios brought the boy down to the cell where Duo was kept and raped him and fed from him while Duo was forced to watch, forced to feel the pain and growing defeat of the boy.

Duo had never been very apt with empathy – he hated to share his thoughts and emotions, and resented having to experience those of anyone else, but three years of feeling what the boy felt started to hone his skills, and after the second year he and the boy, who he gradually started to think of as Anthony, started to communicate more than mere emotion. Somewhere in those three years of torture he started to care for Anthony, started to think of him as more than Alexios' latest victim.

When war finally broke out between the North and the South, Duo was freed from his prison and ordered to assist the Union in executing the Confederates necromancers.

Once the war ended and Duo returned to Noventa he saw that Alexios was still feeding from Anthony, and the day that Duo returned to the Council he made Anthony his human servant and threatened to kill Alexios if he ever laid a hand on him again.

The act had earned both Duo and Anthony another three years in the dungeons, Duo wrapped once again in silver chains, but no one had touched Anthony again, until his execution thirty five years later.

Duo shook himself, trying to send the dark, painful memory back to the recesses of his mind. Instead, the memory only seemed to grow, the emotions Duo associated with it became magnified, and they swelled within him until he felt ready to collapse from the sheer agony it caused.

And then suddenly it was gone, the emotions, the memory, the cloud of magic – all seemed to swirl into a vortex of pain, fear, and anger that spiraled towards Alexios.

The vampire cried out as he was assaulted with the combined memories of the entire Council. Alexios fell to his knees and clutched his head, screaming in pain.

"What's happening?" Hilde asked beside him.

Duo shook himself. He realized that she was likely the only person in the room who didn't have a memory associated with him. That thought made him look at Trowa, and he took in the grim satisfaction on his face as Alexios was tortured. He wondered just what the vampire had done to him.

"I think Quatre's projecting all of our memories at Alexios."

"What memories?"

"Painful ones. He's… basically he's torturing him with his own torture. He's making him feel all of the pain he made US feel."

Duo had always known that Alexios was a bully, but he was astounded by just how much pain he had caused so many powerful Old Ones.

Treize, sitting high on his throne, looked torn between amusement and terror. Duo knew that Treize thought that Alexios was a cretin – for the same reasons that Jason did – but Treize had to be intimidated by this show of power from Quatre.

Even Duo was impressed.

"Stop! Please stop!" Alexios finally cried out, little more than a quivering mass on the floor by this point.

Quatre drew in a deep breath and the magic seemed to vanish, leaving the hall dark and still.

"Oh my," Relena said, a look of admiration on her face. She looked over at Duo. "This one is ever so much more fun than your last one, Duo." She said. Her cheeks were flushed and she looked disturbingly aroused.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"It isn't finished," Noin suddenly called out. "Alexios still lives."

"There's no point in killing him, I've defeated him," Quatre pointed out.

"Indeed you have, Arbiter," Treize agreed, and there was a note of respect in his voice, "but while he lives his seat remains his."

Quatre scowled and looked back at Duo and Relena.

"Surely there is some precedent -?"

Relena shook her head.

"As the Executioner, am I allowed to do my duty?" Duo asked.

It was clear to him that Quatre simply did not want to kill the vampire. He knew now it had nothing to do with weakness – after all, Quatre had just tortured the man to within an inch of his life more efficiently than even Duo could have – the Ephemeral simply did not believe in taking the life of another living being.

Relena nodded.

"By all means."

He looked to Treize, and the vampire hesitated for only a moment before waving his hand in approval.

Duo approached Quatre and Alexios, drawing his scimitar as he did so.

He stopped in front of Alexios, and he felt disgust at the sight of the sobbing man. This was the vampire who had tortured Anthony and countless other victims. This was the vampire who had taken Martha's right eye. This was the vampire who had done something awful to Trowa, his own Soul Mate.

Duo made quick work of cutting off his head and removing his heart. He tossed both at Treize's feet and cleaned both his blade and his hands on Alexios' clothes.

"Will the Arbiter take his new seat?" Treize asked, and gestured to Alexios' throne, still flanked by Martha and a now pale and quivering human servant. Martha looked triumphant.

Quatre inclined his head and sat in Alexios throne. He gestured to both Duo and Hilde, and then two moved to stand behind him. Martha stepped back to allow Duo room, and the human servant went to go and clean up the mess that was once his master.

"I still hate you," Martha whispered to Duo.

"Right back at you," he assured her. "But once again, this wasn't for you."

"Your pathetic servant has been dead for –"

Duo turned on her and glared.

"Anthony kept you alive when I would have gladly killed you, but he isn't the reason I'm letting you live now."

Martha's eyes narrowed, and she looked over his shoulder in the direction of Trowa.

"Keep your pack leader alive or I will kill you. What the hell were you thinking, allowing them to take him in the first place?" He demanded. "Have you seen his back?"

"It looks exactly like yours," she confirmed, her voice faint. "You – You. We felt the two of you together." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "How could he be so stupid? You'll kill us all."

"No," Duo assured her. "Just you – if you allow anything to happen to him again. You know what I did when they killed Anthony. You do not want to give me a reason for vengeance."

She looked shaken, but she nodded.

"Good. This war between us – it stops now. And this stays between the two of us."

"Agreed."

Duo held her gaze a moment longer before turning back to the Council.

"Well, to Jason's next point," Relena said, continuing as though an execution had not just occurred a few feet from her. "Since you were foolish enough to allow the humans the right to legislate your actions and recognize you, Jason feels that all Council punishments should follow human law, and as such, should be coordinated with your Arbiter."

"Never."

"Never? You say never to Jason, the master of the Old Ones?" Relena's voice had gone dangerously quiet.

"I am the Head of this Council and I decide the punishments for those who serve me. It has always been thus."

"Yes," Relena agreed, "it has. Until you allowed it to change. If you don't want to follow his orders, Jason did give me leave to challenge you for your seat." Relena examined her nails. "We both know that I'm not much of a fighter, but, as a member of the Old Council, I am allowed to name a champion. Tell me, who do you think will kill you quicker, my brother or the Executioner?"

Treize looked furious, and Duo saw Trowa wince as Treize no doubt clenched his fist around the leash holding him.

"Does Jason have any other demands?" Treize hissed eventually.

"Yes," Relena said happily. "He has heard that a child vampire was spared execution."

"As is my right," Treize snapped.

"Of course. He doesn't question your decision. He merely wanted to ask the Arbiter if he may assume custody of the child. He has missed his own children for such a long time, and he thinks his court has been empty of laughter for too long."

Quatre looked back at Duo.

"It's a good idea," Duo told him. "Jason will take care of her – and he'll be alive for longer than you will, so…"

"Very well," Quatre said. "I relinquish custody of Mariemaia to Jason."

Relena smiled.

"Wonderful." She sighed. "Well, now, that wasn't too terribly painful, was it Treize?"

The Head of the Council glared at her.

"How are your accommodations?" He asked.

"Perfect now that the assassins have been killed," she replied.

"And how long can we expect the pleasure of your company?"

She shrugged one shoulder.

"Jason gave me leave to stay for as long as I needed. Perhaps a few weeks?"

Treize looked ready to kill himself at the news.

"Do you require anything during your stay?"

She smiled. "You know me, Treize, my needs are simple…" she trailed off as several Council members laughed. Relena's sexual appetite was legendary.

"And have those needs been met?" Treize inquired, looking a little green. The man had never been attracted to women, and Duo knew that he found the entire thought of sex with a woman to be mildly distasteful.

"Now that you mention it, I could do with some company. Who is that gorgeous creature at your feet?"

"A new addition since your last visit," Treize told her. "A shape shifter."

"Hm. What kind?"

"A lion."

"And his name?"

"He goes by Trowa Barton."

"I want him."

Treize hesitated for a moment, but then inclined his head.

"It would be an honor to share him with Jason's emissary," Treize told her.

Relena smiled.

"Yes, I expect it is." She stood. "I'm sorry to call an end to this audience so soon, but the day's events have been exhausting. Arbiter, Executioner, please escort me back to my hotel."

Relena was breaking all of the rules, and the look on Treize's face was one of pure hatred.

"Fetch the shape shifter, please, Duo," Relena told him.

Duo inclined his head, and as Hilde and Quatre moved to follow Relena from the hall, Duo approached Treize's throne.

"If I learn you had anything to do with tonight's disaster, I will kill your servant," Treize hissed as he stopped in front of the throne.

"You think I want to be the Executioner again?" Duo spat. "I'd rather be put into a coffin than serve you. I promise this had nothing to do with me."

Treize sneered.

"It always has something to do with you. Jason –"

"Is the master of the Old Ones," Duo reminded him, echoing Relena's words.

Treize snapped his jaw shut.

"May I have him?" Duo asked, gesturing to Trowa.

"He won't be of any use to her," Treize assured him.

Duo froze and looked at Trowa in terror.

"What –"

"He doesn't find women attractive," Treize explained, and Duo let out a sigh of relief. He had been terrified that Treize had seen fit to punish Trowa even more for his actions.

"Sometimes she simply likes to look," Duo reminded Treize.

Treize scowled but handed Duo Trowa's leash.

"I can't walk him through your lobby in this," Duo said instead of accepting it.

"Very well, remove it."

Treize smirked.

Duo steeled himself to touch the silver collar. He drew in a deep breath and removed it as quickly as possible, barely biting his tongue in time to prevent himself from crying out at the pain of it eating into his skin.

He tossed the collar to one side.

Trowa's neck was a massive open wound, and it was clear that he had been wearing the collar for some time. He looked up at Treize.

"I didn't want him wandering off again," Treize explained.

Duo nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He started to walk away, and Trowa fell into step just behind him.

When they reached the elevator the others were waiting for them. They all piled in in silence.

"Well, wasn't that entertaining," Relena said.

"You need to get out more," Duo told her. He moved away from Trowa, because this close he could smell the other man and his fingers itched to touch him.

"Perhaps Quatre could show me some of the delights of Las Vegas during my stay?" Relena teased the blonde Ephemeral.

Quatre smiled slightly.

"You did good tonight," Duo told him.

"Thank you." Quatre drew in a deep breath and looked over at Relena. "You didn't tell me I would have to kill him."

She shrugged. "I simply assumed you knew."

"Wait," Duo interrupted them, "you knew what she was going to do?"

Quatre nodded. "We discussed it before you and Heero arrived this morning."

"Did anyone else know? Did Jason tell anyone else about this?"

"No," Relena told him.

"And this spy at Treize's court, did he know?"

Relena frowned. "What are you implying?"

"I'm implying that the reason someone wanted Quatre dead was so he couldn't become a Council member. Who else knew?"

"My spy would never betray me," Relena assured him.

"Is it your brother? Because Zechs –"

"It isn't my brother," she interrupted. "I'm not an idiot. I know that he and Treize are lovers and that he cares little for me save that we are the last of our father's children." She looked over at Trowa. "Can you talk?"

Duo followed her gaze.

"Yes," Trowa said, his voice gravely with disuse and pain.

"Son of a bitch. I am going to kill–"

"Duo," Hilde interrupted at the same time that Trowa did.

"I don't need you to kill anyone for me. I am –"

"I know, I know. You're the son of a god. Whatever. How fucking long has he been keeping you on that leash?"

Trowa was silent for a long moment.

"How long?"

"Since last night."

Before Duo could respond to that, Relena spoke up.

"I'm going to assume that this is your Soul Mate?" She asked, an amused lilt to her voice.

Duo turned to her.

"Er, yeah."

"Your Soul Mate belongs to Treize Khushrenada? Duo." She shook her head.

"It wasn't like I had a choice," he muttered.

"Hm. I bet the three of you are magnificent together," Relena said, her voice dreamy as she looked at Trowa.

Duo flushed and then paled, thinking once again of Heero.

Relena seemed to follow his thoughts.

"How is he?"

Hilde shook her head.

"We haven't heard anything since we left the hospital."

Relena nodded and brushed her hand over Duo's cheek again.

"Your Heero is very strong," she assured him.

Duo let out a sound that was caught between a laugh and a cry, but he couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"Well," Relena said as they exited the elevator on the ground floor. "I can't very well expect your Soul Mate to keep my bed warm unless YOU are also in it, so I'll just leave him with you, shall I?" Relena asked, flicking her gaze over Trowa.

"I –" Duo was on the verge of telling her to take him anyway, but he realized just how much of an asshole that would make him.

"Perhaps Quatre can keep me entertained instead?" Relena suggested, giving the Arbiter a heated look.

Quatre flushed and stammered.

Relena laughed and looped her arm through his.

"Excellent. Duo, please join me for dinner tomorrow evening. Bring your servant and your Soul Mate as well. Oh – and news of Heero."

Duo nodded and watched as Relena practically dragged Quatre with her towards the valet station.

"Duo," Hilde spoke up, sending Trowa a wary look, "do you want me to come back to the hospital with you?"

Duo was on the verge of saying yes, but then he caught Trowa's frown of confusion. He realized that the other man had no idea what was going on, and that he was likely as furious with Duo as he had been the previous night. Duo didn't feel like fighting at all right now, but he especially didn't want to fight with Trowa with Hilde present.

He shook his head.

"No, can you discreetly ask about Dorothy? Call me if you learn anything – and please be careful."

Hilde nodded solemnly.

"I will," she promised before taking the elevator back upstairs.

He started to walk to the parking deck, trusting Trowa to follow him –although a part of him hoped that Trowa would simply walk away.

"Is your car here?" Duo asked when they reached the deck.

"Duo, what the hell is going on?"

He sighed and tried to think of how to explain to Trowa why he couldn't deal with fighting him today.

"Duo –"

He grabbed the back of Trowa's head and brought the other man's lips against his own, smashing their mouths together hard enough that their teeth clicked. Trowa instantly stiffened and tried to pull away, but Duo kept his grip firm.

It only took a moment for the golden magic of their bond to swell up and overwhelm them both.

As soon as Trowa started to respond to the kiss, opening his lips and darting his tongue into Duo's mouth, Duo allowed all of his defenses to fall.

All of the anger, fear, and depression that had been building since he first cradled Heero's lifeless head in his lap – he released it, allowing it to overwhelm both himself and Trowa.

The other man tensed again, and Duo could feel Trowa's instant response to his own pain.

After a few moments Trowa gentled the kiss and then eased away from him. Duo allowed it, dropping his hands from Trowa's head and stepping back.

"What happened?" Trowa asked, his voice free from the tension and bitterness he had previously displayed.

"Someone tried to kill Quatre this morning and Heero got between him and the bullet. They used some kind of silver bullet that disintegrates on impact – so there are shards of silver in his heart and lungs. Because of… because of me his blood is reacting to the silver like it's poison. His immune system is shutting down and the doctors are trying to repair the damage – but it's just spreading. And his body is trying to heal itself, which is forcing the silver even farther into his blood."

Trowa reached out and placed one hand along Duo's jaw.

"This is not your fault. You are the reason he's alive at all."

Duo shook his head.

"If Gavi –"

"Stop it. This is pointless." The force behind Trowa's voice made Duo meet his gaze. "He would have died at least thirty years ago if Gavi hadn't taken your blood. And he NEVER would have met you. What hospital is he at?"

"Sunrise."

"I'll drive us there."

Duo opened his mouth to argue – to point out all the reasons why he and Trowa shouldn't even be talking to one another, but then he decided to just let it be.

With everything that had gone wrong, he didn't feel like sabotaging the one thing that was going right.

~ * ~


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Fourteen

The hospital smelled just as horrible as before, and Duo was mildly gratified to see that Trowa's nose curled up in disgust at the smell as well.

As they approached Heero's room Duo's steps started to slow, and he was half afraid to open the door. The blinds had been drawn, and the room seemed ominously dark.

Wufei was curled up in one of the chairs in Heero's room, reading one of the house wife magazines the hospital seemed to own stock in.

He looked up at their entrance, but Duo's gaze had already moved past him to the hospital bed. It was empty.

"Where –oh fuck. No." Duo felt every ounce of life drain from his body.

"What? No, no." Wufei stood and threw down the magazine. "They took him into surgery just five minutes ago. I called Hilde – she said you were on your way here. I didn't want to panic you."

Duo felt his blood start to flow again, but he sat down in the spare chair and buried his face in his hands.

Seeing that empty bed had been Duo's worst nightmare ever since he had left the hospital earlier that day, and the shock of it becoming reality – even if only for a moment – had been devastating.

"Are they going to remove the rest of the silver?" Trowa asked.

Duo could feel the shape shifter standing just behind him, his body radiating heat, but Duo fought the urge to lean back and accept any comfort.

"Who are you?" Wufei asked instead of answering.

Duo sighed. "He's… well, he's –"

"I'm a friend of Heero's," Trowa saved Duo. The firm confidence in his voice made Duo look up at him. Trowa's jaw was set, and he was glaring at Wufei with enough force that Duo wondered if the two had met before. "And you must be Wufei Chang? The fed that took my sister out to dinner last night?" His voice was icy.

Duo's jaw dropped and he turned back to Wufei. The Chinese man stood and met Trowa's glare with one of his own.

"Yes, I am. Your sister is an amazing woman and I have every intention of seeing her again."

"No, you don't," Trowa assured him, his voice barely more than a growl.

"Your sister is a grown woman – older than you – and has every –"

"My sister is almost six thousand years old," Trowa agreed, "but that doesn't mean she's learned to avoid getting involved with nulls. Stay away from her."

"Why –"

"You're the bad guy!" Trowa practically shouted. "What happens when you have to arrest her for breaking the law and rebelling against her master? What happens if she's lucky enough to kill him? Are you going to be the one to execute her? I'm telling you, end things now or BOTH of you are going to regret it. She might LOOK like a human to you, but she's a shape shifter. Do you understand what that means? Are you willing to become one of us just so you can be with her?"

Wufei sniffed disdainfully and turned back to Duo.

"I informed the hospital staff that Mr. Yuy was under federal protection, and that you would be returning to watch over him. They shouldn't bother you about visiting hours being over."

Duo nodded, a little shell shocked from the argument between the two men, but grateful that Wufei had thought to arrange for him to stay.

"The doctor seemed confident that they would be able to remove most of the remaining silver fragments with this operation, but he was still concerned about the blood poisoning. They should be in surgery for the next five to eight hours."

Duo nodded again, trying to decipher from Wufei's words if there was any hope for Heero actually returning alive.

"I suggest you put a bandage around your neck before one of the nurses sees you," Wufei sneered, his dark eyes cold as he glared at Trowa.

Trowa glared at the Chinese man as he left the room, but as soon as he was gone he stripped off his jacket, bowtie, and dress shirt.

Duo watched as Trowa rifled through a cart of medical supplies until he found gauze and wrapped it around his neck.

Task complete, Trowa sat down in Wufei's vacated chair, across the empty bed, but still in Duo's line of sight.

He was grateful that Trowa didn't feel the need to speak, even if it was clear that the other man was fuming over something. Likely the thought of Catharine and Wufei together.

They sat in silence for at least an hour before it started to unnerve Duo.

Duo's gaze kept coming back to Trowa's neck, and every time he saw the bandages he felt a fresh rush of anger.

Remembering Anthony seemed to have brought on Duo's protective and possessive streaks, and all he wanted to do was track down Treize and wrap the vampire in a silver collar. And then kill him, of course.

"Shouldn't you shift or something to heal that?" Duo eventually asked.

Trowa frowned and ran a hand over the bandages at his throat.

"I didn't want to be rude."

Duo arched an eyebrow, amused despite himself.

"It seemed crass to heal such a minor injury when Heero is…" Trowa trailed off and shrugged.

Duo nodded, appreciating Trowa's thoughtfulness.

"Yeah, well, if I have to look at those bandages again I'm going to hunt down Treize and –"

"I do not need you to fight for me," Trowa growled.

"Clearly you do, because from the day I met you you've been nothing more than Treize's pet. Unless you have some master plan that involves being tortured and raped on a regular basis?"

Trowa glared at him.

"Too many people are relying on me. I can't just attack whoever I want. If I killed Treize all of the shape shifters would be punished. I won't have that on my head."

"Because they're all doing so great right now."

"Why does it bother you? Don't you just want us rounded up and executed anyway?"

"No," Duo hissed. "I don't."

Trowa sneered. "Now that you've fucked one of us it complicates things a bit, doesn't it?"

"God damn it! Why are you so fucking annoying?" Duo ran a hand through his hair. "I swear to God I don't know what I ever liked about you in the first place! I do not want all shape shifters executed! I did not want to kill those children! I've spent my life trying to protect people from harm from magic users and those kids," Duo shook his head. "I hear their screams every night when I close my eyes. Of all the things I've done, THAT is the one that haunts me the most. I'm going to hell, sure enough, as soon as I die, and I know that I've earned my place there. But I never wanted to harm children."

Duo laughed bitterly. "It's ironic, isn't it that I've wished for my own death every day since then, but I just don't seem to fucking die. Jason won't let anyone execute me, and no one's been stupid enough to go against his orders. Instead it looks like I'll just live forever. And maybe that's the punishment I deserve. Now I get to watch everyone I love die instead. Maybe this is hell."

He shook his head and looked back at Trowa. The green eyed man still looked hostile, but there was something in his expression that told Duo he was growing as tired of fighting as Duo was.

"I'm sorry you're stuck with me. And let's be honest – we're both powerful Old Ones, so it's only a matter of time before our magic forces us to finish the bond between us. So I'm sorry. Maybe you'll get lucky and someone will kill me before that happens. But –"

"I asked you," Trowa interrupted him, "I asked you if you were a serial killer or a mass murderer. You said no."

Duo sighed. "Yeah, well, I guess I lied about that."

Trowa shook his head. "No, you didn't. That's what's so fucking annoying about you. Why can't you just be a sadistic bastard like the rest of them? Why do you have to feel so much pain and regret for what you've done? Why won't you just let me hate you?" He paused. " I've lived for a very long time, and I've been a slave for most of my live. But I've never been owned so completely by someone as I am by–" Trowa stopped himself and shook his head. He laughed bitterly. "Our bond doesn't even matter. I was falling in love with you before that, and I knew what you were. I know that you've killed without remorse, but I also knew – Martha told me – that every innocent life you took ate away at your soul. Even now – all I want to do is comfort you! It's impossible for me to hate you."

Trowa glared at him. "You aren't the only one who's watched everyone you love die. We're both fighting a losing battle right now. And maybe – maybe we're just too used to fighting."

It was an invitation to forgive each other and move on, and Duo desperately wanted to accept it.

"I still don't like you," he informed Trowa.

The other man smirked. "Yes you do. I'm irresistible and you know it."

In the face of Trowa's confidence Duo gave in.

"Fucking hell," he muttered and jumped out of his chair.

Trowa met him in the middle of the room, and Duo felt like a fire had been ignited under his skin when their lips met.

The familiar taste of cinnamon filled Duo's mouth and he groaned. He could feel the heat of Trowa's body through his thin undershirt, and he ran his hands under the hem and over the hard flesh of the other man's chest.

Trowa pulled off Duo's coat, but Duo had to brush aside his fingers and remove the sheath for his scimitar. That task accomplished, Duo went back started to pull off Trowa's shirt, intent of feeling the other man's naked flesh against his own.

His hands traced over Trowa's scarred back and he stilled.

Both of them were impossibly flawed, Duo realized. It was entirely likely that Trowa had just as much emotional baggage as Duo himself did, and NOW his perfect body had been destroyed by none other than Duo himself.

"This is crazy," Duo whispered and pulled back. "I can't do this anymore. Heero's nearly dead because of me. And you – Christ, Trowa, look what I did to you!"

"It's about time you apologized for ruining my illustrious career as an exotic dancer," Trowa muttered, still smirking. He closed the distance between them and kissed Duo again, teasing his lips until he started to respond.

"You said it yourself – as soon as Treize knows we're Soul Mates your life is forfeit." Duo tried to pull away again, but Trowa kept his grip firm around Duo's waist, and it was very hard to fight against the lure of all that warmth and golden magic.

"That was before."

"Before what?"

"Before the Arbiter became a Council member. Before Jason's Emissary reminded the entire Council that Jason still protects you. Before – before I understood you and Heero."

"What about me and Heero?"

"You are his reason for living. You know that." Trowa ran his thumb over Duo's jaw. "And you. You're amazing at hiding your emotions, but not when you look at him. You would do anything for him. You would sell your very soul if it meant you could trade places with him right now."

Duo swallowed hard. Everything Trowa said was true.

"I want that."

The words were raw with emotion, and for once, it was easy to read Trowa's eyes. Duo could see the naked longing in them, and through their connection he could feel Trowa's desire. It had little to do with sex and more to do with belonging.

"You and Heero –"

"We understand each other," Trowa said.

"You don't like to share," Duo reminded him.

"If sharing you feels like it did on Friday night then I want to share you as often as possible." The earnestness in Trowa's voice made Duo want to laugh, but the surge of pure lust he felt from the other man had him smirking instead.

"Heero and I, we – I fuck things up pretty frequently. He's like the only good thing that's happened to me in a long time, though, and he's… he's like oxygen. I need him alive. But this relationship thing is new. Hell, I haven't lived with anyone since Anthony, and it's not – this isn't going to be easy."

"Duo, whenever I touch you all I feel is hope. With you around the past is just a memory. I can't feel the pain, I don't see their faces, I'm here, in the present. You have no idea how much I want to fight for that feeling."

"Yeah, I do." Duo shook his head. "It's the same for me. I'm not kidding when I say that I need Heero, but you – you're warm and fucking golden and you make me want to see tomorrow."

"Okay then."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duo jerked awake and nearly fell out of the hospital chair.

He scrubbed his eyes and looked around the hospital room. Heero's bed was still empty, and Trowa was curled on other chair, somehow managing to look comfortable.

His cell phone rang again and Duo cursed. WHY was he doomed to always be woken up by the damn thing? He remembered the days before phones of any kind, and he felt nostalgic for how differently paced life had been back then.

The caller ID said it was Wufei, and Duo answered it cautiously.

"Yeah?"

"Hilde found Dorothy's body. I'm on my way to the hospital to pick you up. She says you need to see it."

Duo frowned. Why hadn't Hilde simply called him?

"She… Duo, Hilde does not cry. She doesn't panic. As much as I think she takes stupid risks, she's one of the most cool and collected agents I know. She's a mess right now. I could barely understand her on the phone."

Duo reached out for Hilde through their connection but he couldn't feel anything from her.

"Fuck. How soon will you be here?"

"Two minutes."

"I'll meet you out front," Duo told him and hung up the phone.

He cursed again. Hilde simply wasn't trained well enough to close off the connection between them, and if Duo couldn't feel her it meant that something was blocking out her magic from him or that she was in bad enough shape that her magic simply wasn't functioning. Neither scenarios were good.

"Trouble?"

Trowa's voice was slightly gravely from sleep.

Duo looked over at him and noticed that while the other man sounded as though he was still half asleep he looked completely alert.

"Yeah. Serial killer. I think." Hilde hadn't freaked out about the other bodies, and she certainly didn't know Dorothy well enough to become that emotional over her death. Maybe this WAS unrelated?

"I'll call you as soon as he's out of surgery," Trowa assured Duo when he glanced at the empty bed.

"Thanks." Duo felt like he should say something else.

"Don't do anything stupid," Trowa told him.

Duo snorted.

"You've met me, right?" He smirked, grateful that Trowa had broken the tension.

"Unfortunately," Trowa deadpanned.

Duo resisted the urge to kiss him and instead pulled on his sheath and then adjusted his duster over it. He nodded to Trowa and then left the hospital room.

Wufei was waiting for him when he stepped outside of the hospital, and no sooner had Duo sat down in the passenger seat did the Chinese man threw the car into gear and took off.

Duo barely managed to slam the door shut.

"Chang –" Duo's complaint died on his lips when he saw just how frantic Wufei looked.

The car ride was short, but the tense silence between them made it feel like a lifetime passed before Wufei came to a screeching halt in front of an apartment complex a few blocks east of the Strip.

Duo followed him up to a second storey apartment that was already taped off and had two federal agents guarding the door.

Wufei barely flashed his badge before storming past them, and Duo was close on his heels.

The moment they entered the apartment Duo understand Hilde's panic and just why he hadn't been able to feel her.

The air was thick with magic, choking Duo and pressing in on him. He could feel it seep into his pores, and it was like a toxin. All of the relief he had felt over the past few hours evaporated and was replaced by despair and grief.

"Hilde!" Wufei shouted, and Duo tried to shake himself out of his depressive coma.

He saw the woman kneeling on the floor beside what could only be described as a mess.

Duo could feel the power behind the ritual circle. It was considerably stronger than any of the other ones they had encountered, and it practically pulsed with the poisonous magic that Duo could even now feel flowing through his veins.

Dorothy's body was recognizable only because of her pale blonde hair. Everything else – it barely looked like a human corpse. This had NOT been a ritual sacrifice. It looked as though her body had been torn apart, as though claws had ripped it to shreds, and there was blood and bits of tissue scattered throughout the circle. The gore stopped abruptly where it met the edge of the magic, and the stark white carpet was a garish contrast to the bright red.

Wufei was trying to comfort Hilde, but she was completely unresponsive to his touch.

Duo crouched down beside her and forced her to look at him.

"Duo." Her eyes were wide and bright with Duo's and her voice was hoarse, as though she had been crying or screaming for hours. "I can't – I'm cold. I can't feel anything."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him, but even that physical contact didn't allow him any hint of her magic.

"Hilde, I can't feel you. Your magic – is it?"

"I can't feel anything," she repeated, her voice a near hysterical sob. She clutched at his shoulders, her short nails digging into his skin even through his layers of clothing.

He tried to force a bridge between them. He dug up the memories and sensations of kissing Trowa and the feeling of the golden warmth they created between them. He shoved them at Hilde and the woman in his arms moaned.

"You and –"

"Yeah, yeah. Me and him. You felt it?"

"Barely. Not like before. Duo, what's happening?"

"The circle. The magic is trying to drain you – drain us," Duo corrected himself as he realized that he was having a hard time fighting against overwhelming depression.

"I – I think it's affecting me too," Wufei said with a scowl.

Duo looked at him and then turned to glance at the uniforms by the door. Sure enough, even they were looking pale and forlorn.

"Damnit. We're feeding the circle with our own emotions. We need to take it down."

"How? I can't even reach my magic and –"

"Let me in."

All three turned to see Zechs standing at the open door, his way blocked by the uniformed agents.

Wufei scowled.

"You need me to take down the circle," Zechs said, directing his gaze at Duo.

Duo frowned. The last time he had forced a ritual circle to collapse on itself he had had Solo to help him. He knew that Zechs was incredibly powerful, but the only time they had ever used their magic together had been in the middle of sex.

"Take Hilde and clear the perimeter," Duo told Wufei.

"But he –"

"He's right. I need him to do this. I can't manage it on my own."

"Can you do it?" Hilde asked.

"I don't know. But this thing is self-perpetuating. It's not going to go away on its own."

Hilde eased away from him and stood shakily.

"How long should it take?" Wufei asked.

"I don't know – if I can't do it in half an hour I won't be able to do it at all." Duo suddenly wished that he had Trowa here. It would be easy enough to tap into HIS magic. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask Hilde to get him, but then he looked back at Zechs. He did NOT want Treize's lover to know that Duo was involved with Trowa Barton.

"In half an hour we're coming back in for you, then," Wufei said. He gestured for the other agents to let Zechs through, and all of the humans backed away from the apartment until they were out of sight.

Zechs came to stand above Duo and the look on his face as he surveyed the bloody remains of his servant was one of devastation.

"She was very loyal," Zechs whispered. "And very powerful."

"Too damned powerful," Duo muttered. "Whoever did this used her magic to create this… poison."

"I know. I can feel it." Zechs shook his head and looked down at Duo. "What do we do?"

"I can destroy it – after all, destruction is what Dark Court Faeries do best – but I need your magic to help me."

Zechs frowned.

"You and I don't have any bond, and we aren't even the same species. The only time we've ever shared magic was during sex." Duo shook his head. "And I don't – please tell me you can think of some way for me to tap into your magic without us having sex."

"No. If you were a Light Court faerie then yes, but you aren't. You aren't even a full Dark Court faerie." Zechs shrugged. "Unless you want to become my servant?"

"No chance in hell. You want to become mine?" Duo sneered.

Zechs smirked. "Still delusional after all these years, I see."

"Look –"

"We can stand here and argue and the circle is only going to get stronger. With the two of US feeding it there's no way it will simply die down. Besides, sex with me isn't THAT bad, is it?" Zechs asked.

It certainly wasn't, but Duo's life was complicated enough as it was.

"The last time we –"

"It faded, didn't it?" Zechs interrupted. "Or are you that afraid of me?"

Duo scowled, but he could feel the circle continue to drain him, and he knew that the only way to destroy it was to act soon.

He sighed and started to undress.

Zechs started to do the same, and Duo was grateful that the other man didn't try to turn this into something more that a quick, necessary means to an end.

Once naked, Duo looked over Zechs' body, still perfect and golden after all these years, and he felt the long forgotten tug of lust. Zechs was incredibly beautiful, and a very skilled lover, but he and Duo had never had anything more than sex in common. And even that had been infrequent – Jason had treated Duo like his favorite toy, and he didn't allow others to use him very often.

"Well?" Zechs asked, one eyebrow arched and his lips curved upwards in amusement as Duo looked him over.

"Yeah, let's just… get this over with." Duo closed the space between them and tentatively reached out to touch the other man's skin.

Zechs was much less tentative and he pulled Duo firmly against him before bowing his head and kissing him.

Duo resisted out of instinct, and simply because the kiss felt so different from Heero or Trowa, but he forced himself to relax and respond. It wasn't long before Duo felt his arousal grow, and he knew it was more from Zechs' magic than from his touch.

Relena and Zechs came from a long and powerful line of Light Court Faeries whose magic was deeply rooted in sex. Neither was truly a succubus – though both grew more powerful after intercourse – but the act of sex allowed them to connect their magic to that of their partner. It was how Zechs had first healed Duo when he had been punished by Deathscythe. Of course, the bridge that sex created also allowed Zechs and Relena to have a small measure of control over their partner – control that faded with time. Before, Duo had felt a lingering sense of devotion for Zechs for weeks after they had sex, and even though he had fought it, the sensation meant that he was more likely to agree with Zechs and be under his power.

With Relena, things had been completely different. She wasn't as powerful as her brother – either that, or she simply hadn't honed her ability to control others after sex as well as he had – and Duo had never felt anything more than affection and respect for Relena afterwards. While that could have been a result of her magic, it had never really faded, and Duo never bothered to fight it.

Neither Duo nor Zechs had planned for this encounter, and the only lubrication Zechs used to prepare Duo was saliva. But by that point, Zechs' magic had driven Duo to the point where he only cared about having the other man buried inside him, no matter how much the initial penetration hurt.

As they moved together and Duo felt his climax approaching he reached out to Zechs with his magic and felt the other man respond in turn. As they came together, Zechs with a triumphant shout and Duo more with a sense of relief than anything, the bridge between their magic solidified.

Before it could start to fade, and with Zechs still inside him, Duo reached out and hurled their combined magic towards the ritual circle.

He could feel it resist –the dark, dangerous magic tried to absorb their magic but it was too strong, and the circle collapsed in an explosion of agony that swept over both Zechs and Duo.

Zechs involuntarily clutched Duo tighter as the magic washed over them.

It passed, and Duo pulled away from Zechs. He felt incredibly cold, and more than a little dirty. The act of destroying the circle had drained most of his magic, and he knew that without someone as powerful as Zechs, there would have been no way he could have destroyed it.

"Thanks," he panted, trying to catch his breath.

"If you really want to thank me you can allow me the chance to enjoy you more thoroughly next time," Zechs said with a smirk.

Duo frowned. Now should be the part where he felt obligated to agree. He should feel the lingering touch of Zechs' magic trying to convince him to obey, but instead, Duo felt… very empty.

"No thanks," he said.

Zechs frowned, but the expression quickly turned to a scowl.

"What – how are you resisting me?"

So Duo wasn't hallucinating. He should have been offering to service Zechs as soon as possible, but instead he felt no desire to sleep with the man again. None at all.

He laughed at the bewildered look on Zechs face.

"Guess you're losing your touch," he told the other man and started to pull on his clothes.

"No. This has never happened before. You – what did you do? You've never been able to resist me."

"Guess I built up a tolerance to you."

"Impossible. Not even Treize can say no to me after we make love."

"Could be I'm just stronger than him," Duo suggested.

Zechs snorted derisively. "Hardly. You aren't strong enough –"

Duo looked up as the other man trailed off.

"You are stronger," Zechs corrected himself. "Your magic feels different. I didn't think about it before. But your human servant isn't powerful enough to change you this much. What have you done?"

Duo froze in the middle of buttoning up his shirt. He wondered if his increased magical strength had anything to do with partially bonding with his Soul Mate? It wasn't a question he wanted to pose to Zechs. He made a mental note to ask Relena.

"I'd love to stay and chat," Duo said, avoiding answering Zechs' question, "but we need to ,er, clean this up. I'll give you a few minutes alone with her." He nodded at Dorothy's body.

Zechs scowled, clearly wanting to argue more, but then he nodded.

"Thank you."

"You might want to get dressed, too," Duo added before he left Zechs.

Hilde and Wufei were huddled by the hood of his black Suburban, while the other two uniforms were drinking coffee inside the warmth of their car.

"What did you do?" Hilde asked as Duo approached them. "I felt the circle fall. It was like this wave of magic crashed over it."

"Yeah. I borrowed some of Zechs' magic."

"You look exhausted," Hilde commented. She reached out to him with her magic, and he was relieved to feel the brush of it against him. "And your magic is really drained."

"Yeah," he agreed, suddenly feeling as exhausted as he looked. "I could really use a cup of tea right about now." He scrubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Was this the same magic at the other circles?" Wufei asked them.

Hilde nodded

"Yes. But it was stronger. Much stronger."

"And it wasn't the same ritual. He didn't want her magic. He wanted to punish her, and he wanted her to feel pain."

Hilde nodded in agreement. "What concerns me is that it took both you and Zechs to break the circle."

"Yeah," Duo sighed. "This shit just got a lot scarier."

Wufei started to speak, but Zechs left the apartment and started to leave.

"I need to talk to him for a few minutes – I'll join you inside," Duo told them and moved to intercept the Faerie.

"Zechs."

The golden haired man looked over at him and sneered. He continued to walk away.

"Zechs, I need to talk to you about this."

And, magically, Zechs stopped and turned back to him. The expression on his face was one of complete disbelief.

"Holy shit. Did I just – did I make you stop and turn around?"

Zechs scowled. "Clearly."

"Damn." Not only was he able to resist Zechs, but he was able to reverse the flow of power and control him. Duo wanted to gloat – wanted to remind Zechs of all the times that he had been nearly helpless before the other man, but even he knew that now wasn't the time.

"You know who did this," Duo said.

Zechs nodded jerkily.

"Tell me."

"You claim to be so smart. Figure it out on your own."

"I haven't figured it out yet," Duo pointed out. "And your human servant is dead because of that."

"Then clearly I have nothing left to lose."

"Except your life. Or Relena's."

Zechs's shoulders stiffened at the threat.

"Treize has forbidden us to speak of it," Zechs eventually bit out. "He no longer controls the Ephemeral, but once he did."

Duo frowned.

"What, so it's one of Treize's human servants?"

Zechs barked a harsh laugh.

"No, this Ephemeral is the servant of no one. He is the master of our greatest threat."

Duo scowled at the cryptic words.

"Zechs, I'm serious, you have to tell me what you know!"

"I've told you all that I can. I've given a blood oath to Treize."

Duo swore. That meant that Zechs was literally unable to tell him more – or he would die.

"Why the secrecy? Doesn't Treize understand how dangerous this Ephemeral is?"

"Oh, he understands." Zechs glared at Duo. "May I go now?"

Duo nodded. "Sure. I'm sorry about Dorothy."

"Thank you," Zechs said in clipped tones before he turned on his heel and left.

Duo started to walk back to the apartment, intent on going over the crime scene with Hilde and Wufei, but his phone started to ring.

It was Trowa.

"What happened?" He demanded.

"He's out of surgery. They just brought him back to the room. They removed all of the silver fragments."

Duo let out a sigh of relief. "What about the blood poisoning?"

"The doctor -Robbins? – wants to try a blood transfusion, but Heero's blood isn't human OR magical. They don't have any type he will accept."

"What about mine?"

"I suggested it to the doctor. He doesn't think it will work – I told him that you and Heero had similar blood types – Heero needs too much blood."

"Yeah, well, I've got plenty to spare."

"I'll let Robbins know you're on your way."

"Thanks – I mean that, Trowa."

"I'd be a shitty Soul Mate if I let him die," Trowa pointed out.

Duo laughed.

"Yeah. I'll see you soon."


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

 

Chapter Fifteen

Duo woke up slowly and had to fight off the lure of sleep. His brain felt lethargic, and it was an incredible effort to even open his eyes.

He was dimly aware of voices, and as he tried to blink his eyes into focus he recognized Trowa's voice.

"…south pass. I got stuck on the north face once during a storm, and it wasn't much fun," he was saying.

"Denali's a tough climb."

Duo recognized that voice too, and he sat upright fast enough that he felt a rush of pain and nausea.

"You're alive."

Heero was propped up in the hospital bed, still festooned with tubes and monitors, but awake and ALIVE. He regarded Duo with amused blue eyes.

"So are you."

Duo frowned.

"Yeah, whatever, obviously. But you – you look like shit."

Heero was still pale, and there were large, dark bruises under his eyes, as if he had gone weeks without sleeping.

Trowa and Heero exchanged amused glances.

"What the hell is so funny?" Duo demanded angrily.

"You're the one who's been in greater danger of dying than HIM," Trowa answered him.

"Me? I didn't get shot! I'm not the one who's body has been shutting down on itself. What danger was I in?"

"Do you even remember the last twenty four hours?" Heero asked him.

Duo frowned and wracked his brain. He remembered coming back to the hospital, fighting with Robbins until the man gave in and started a transfusion, and then – nothing. He flushed in embarrassment.

"Er… when you say twenty four hours –" he started.

"He means the amount of time that you've been unconscious," Trowa clarified.

Duo's jaw dropped.

"What – no way. What do you mean I've been unconscious? For twenty four hours?"

Trowa nodded.

"You passed out during the transfusion. You were already pretty weak before you started – I could barely feel your magic, but you threatened to kill me - and pretty much everyone – if you weren't allowed to give Heero blood." Under Trowa's amusement there was a veneer of hurt, and Duo winced. He DID remember that, now that Trowa mentioned it.

"Anyway, you passed out and they've had you hooked up to an IV ever since. Hilde came in this morning and sat with you for a while – I think that helped finally restore your magic."

"Damn. I didn't realize. How long have you been awake?" He asked Heero.

"Only a few hours," Heero told him.

"How do you feel?"

Heero arched one eyebrow. "Like I've been shot in the chest."

Duo chuckled, but it quickly turned nearly hysterical. He fought to get control of himself.

"You can't ever do that again," he told Heero once he had calmed down.

"I didn't plan on doing it in the first place," Heero pointed out.

"I'm serious. You can't die on me." He held Heero's gaze and tried to convey just how much the other man meant to him.

"The same goes for you," Heero said after a long moment.

"I didn't almost die!" Duo protested.

"Yes, you did. Trowa was a heartbeat away from opening a vein and completing your bond before Hilde showed up. You can't die on either of us."

Duo frowned and looked between the two men. Both wore determined expressions.

"Okay, seriously, when did you two become a team? I mean, yeah, both of you are amazing in bed – so if you had sex together, I'm sure you enjoyed it – but this is like you've been best friends for years. What is going on?"

Both men looked uncomfortable.

Trowa sighed eventually and leaned forward in his chair.

"I – we - did enjoy sex together. But before that… I don't deal well with emotions."

"Join the club," Duo muttered. He eased back down to a lying position on the bed and rolled over onto his side so that he could see both men clearly.

"In the middle of a…discussion, Heero pointed out that there wasn't any point in living at all if you didn't follow your emotions."

"By discussion, I'm going to assume you mean fight, as in the two of you were about to kill each other until one of you got frustrated enough to say something too personal and then –"

"Do you want to hear this or would you prefer to make it up in your head?" Trowa asked, his voice a mixture of irritation and amusement.

"Sorry."

"In my experience, emotions make you weak – and they provide your enemies with avenues for attack."

Duo nodded. He was in complete agreement with that statement, and he knew that Heero was as well – it was, after all, the reason he had fought against his relationship with Duo in the first place.

"But you aren't weak. And maybe… maybe caring about you actually makes me stronger."

"So Heero and you philosophized and then had sex?"

Heero sighed. "Yes. We did. It was the easiest way to show him that I wasn't interested in treating him like –"

"Like a slave," Trowa finished for him when Heero hesitated.

Heero nodded.

Duo shook his head.

"How did the three of us wind up together? What bizarre twist of fate made it logical for us to be a – a thing?"

Heero smirked.

"It's your own fault."

Duo snorted. "No kidding. Um, back to that being stronger thing." He looked over at Trowa. "So… have you noticed that your magic is stronger since we started to bond?"

Trowa looked thoughtful for a moment and then shook his head.

"No, I haven't. I think it would take the full bond for us to actually get stronger. Why? Have you?"

"Er, well… not until just recently." He paused and drew in a deep breath. "I went to that crime scene – where they found Dorothy's body," he clarified, in case Trowa had not given Heero any details of the last day, but Heero nodded to indicate that he knew. "Right, so there was a ritual circle up, but it was designed to drain magic and hope and well, everything good, out of whoever happened to be near it – null or magic user. It was too strong for me to break on my own, and Hilde was pretty well drained by the time I got there. So… Zechs showed up and I used his magic to break it. It still took just about all of MY magic anyway, which is why I was so weak when I came back here."

"How did Zechs share magic with you? You aren't related, and you aren't his servant," Trowa said.

"Yeah, about that…"

"You slept with him," Trowa concluded.

Duo nodded and looked over at Heero. His expression was guarded.

"You can, you know, be pissed if you want," Duo told him.

"Thanks," Heero growled.

Duo looked over at Trowa, curious about HIS reaction.

"Treize has… shared me with him before," Trowa said, seeming to pick his words carefully. "Sex usually gives Zechs a hold over his partner. He can practically control you afterwards until it fades."

Duo nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. In the past, that was always the case. But this time – I could control HIM. Somehow I reversed it."

Trowa frowned. "Treize can't do that."

"Yeah. I know. So I thought it might have something to do with us."

Trowa shook his head. "I don't think so."

Duo sighed and looked back at Heero.

"Just – say whatever you want to say."

Heero glared at him.

"You did what you had to do. You needed the magic – and from what you've told me, you wouldn't have willingly slept with him otherwise. I assume you didn't want to involve Trowa in this for a legitimate reason, so Zechs was your only option."

"And yet you're pissed as hell about it…"

"Yes," Heero confirmed.

Duo sighed.

"So what am I supposed to do? Apologize – because yeah, I am sorry. If I could have avoided it would have."

"I know."

"Then what – what I am supposed to do?"

"Duo, I almost died because I was protecting the Arbiter – a man you never would have cared about if he didn't look like Anthony Quinn. I came back to you to start a relationship, and you've got a Soul Mate. I wake up and you tell me that you've slept with the only Old One I couldn't kill. My one failure. I think, all things considered, I'm allowed to be pissed off."

Heero didn't rant often, but when he did, it was always explosive.

Duo swallowed hard and nodded.

"Yeah, okay. You're right. I fucked it up and –"

"Stop," Heero growled. "This isn't your fault. I don't blame you. I'm not even mad at you."

"Just the world," Duo supplied.

"Yes," Heero agreed.

Duo nodded and glanced over at Trowa. The shape shifter had remained silent throughout Heero's tirade, and he, curiously, hadn't expressed anger over Duo sleeping with someone else.

"So what about you, then? Are you also pissed at the world?"

"No more than usual," Trowa told him. "I'm not thrilled about the mental image of you and Zechs together."

"I'm not thrilled with the image of you and Zechs together," Duo muttered.

"I didn't have a choice," Trowa pointed out, his voice bitter.

"I know." Duo sighed. "And I know that you belong to Treize and fucking hell I do not want to have to think about that man torturing you again."

"Me either," Trowa said drolly. He arched an eyebrow. "I assume -?"

"Yeah. Back in the Old Court. Before Jason decided I was more than just an amusement for his Council."

They all fell silent, and Duo reflected that they were likely a therapist's worst nightmare. It was amazing that any of them could even function, and ridiculous to think that they had a chance of coming out of this whole.

"So what's the verdict on you getting out of here?" Duo asked Heero, deciding that they weren't going to resolve any of their issues any time soon.

"They want to keep me for observation for another few days." Heero looked as excited about the prospect as Duo felt.

"How are you healing?"

Heero rubbed a hand over his chest.

"Faster than usual. Thanks to you." He shrugged. "I can already breathe normally, and the pain is manageable."

Duo rolled his eyes. Of course Heero wouldn't be on pain medication. He hated to dull his reactions.

"So… what do you want to do?" He asked him.

"I'd like to get the hell out of here," Heero answered.

Duo grinned.

"Let's see what we can do about that."

-0-

In the end they had to smuggle him out – Robbins refused to sign off on a patient who had just undergone serious surgery leaving a hospital less than forty-eight hours later – but Duo was grateful. The sooner he left the foul smelling place the better, and he made a mental note to ensure that none of them had to visit one again.

Trowa drove them back to Duo's condo and Duo got Heero situated in the bedroom while Trowa made him soup.

Duo was grateful for the time alone with Heero.

He sat on the edge of the bed once Heero was ensconced under the covers.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I am," he continued when Heero started to speak. "I'm not saying that all of this is my fault – because let's be honest, fate fucking hates me and would have found some way to fuck me over even if it didn't involve Soul Mates and being haunted by my past. But, I'm SORRY because I do love you, okay? I love you, and you almost died – just like everyone else – and I'm freaked out about it."

"I know," Heero said.

"Okay, Han Solo, I'm glad that you 'know' but what the hell am I supposed to do? I'm the Executioner again, my Soul Mate is the leader of an illegal pack of shape shifters and he belongs to a sadistic vampire who would love to have my head on a plate and you – look at you. You're ready to pass out after walking from the elevator to my front door." Duo shook his head. "I swear to God, this is about all I can handle." He buried his head in his hands.

"Are you done freaking out now?" Heero asked after a moment.

Duo lifted his head and glared at him.

"No, I'm not. Because I neglected to mention the fact that the Council knows who the serial killer is and Treize won't let anyone tell me and I can't shake the feeling that I should know who it is and that the bastard might attack Hilde. So no, I'm not quite done."

"Okay. I'll just be here, slowly recovering from my near fatal wound, when you want to calm down and remember that you're one of the most dangerous men alive and no one can touch you if you don't let them."

Duo sighed and moved to lay down beside Heero in the bed.

"Fine. I remember. I'm calm."

Heero smirked at him.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Nap sounds nice."

Heero arched an eyebrow.

"Oh – about all the shit I need to fix in the world?" Duo sighed. "I need to figure out who the hell this serial killer is. And I need to figure out how the hell to get Trowa away from Treize. And – yeah, I'm starting to freak out again."

"Trowa can take care of himself," Heero pointed out.

"You say that but the bastard had him in a silver collar –"

"He's powerful enough that he could kill Treize if he wanted to," Heero interrupted. "You have to let him do this his way. He doesn't need you to fight for him."

Duo groaned. "I really don't like the two of you being on the same page while I'm out here on my own."

"Stop being wrong, then," Heero said.

"Yeah. I'll get right on that. Okay, fine. Trowa can fight his own damn battles. So, the serial killer. Zechs said something weird to me –" he stopped himself when Trowa came into the room.

The shape shifter was carrying a bowl of soup on a plate with two slices of bread.

"Smells good," Duo commented.

"Family recipe," Trowa informed him before handing the plate to Heero.

"You made that from scratch? In ten minutes?"

Trowa looked amused. "No, I opened a can of chicken noodle soup and heated it up. Then I put it in a bowl."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Family recipe. Whatever."

Trowa stood by the bed and looked a little unsure of what he should do.

Duo shifted closer to Heero so that there was room on his other side, and Trowa sat down.

"How's your neck, by the way?" Duo asked.

"Healing slowly."

Duo assumed that with him having passed out Trowa had thought it best to remain in human form and watch over both he and Heero in the hospital.

He stretched out, and it was surprisingly comfortable to have Heero on one side of him and Trowa on the other.

Duo yawned. He felt completely drained – physically and emotionally. He didn't understand why he was so tired, considering that he had been unconscious for twenty four hours, but he figured it had something to do with the fact that he could finally think about closing his eyes and not picture Heero dying in his arms.

"That nap sounds like a really good idea," Duo muttered.

"We have dinner with Relena in three hours," Trowa told him, settling back against the pillows. "She rescheduled when she came by and saw you and Heero hooked up to IVs and heart monitors."

"Thoughtful of her," Duo said. "Maybe we should cancel, though, I don't want to leave Heero on his own."

"I'll be fine," Heero said. "So don't even think of postponing the damn thing until I'm well enough to go. That woman is oversexed and I do not enjoy being looked at as though I were a piece of fresh meat."

He finished the soup and bread and sat the empty plate down on the nightstand. He shifted so that he was laying down and looked over at Duo.

"You should go. It would put Quatre's mind at ease."

Duo had to agree with the logic of that statement.

"Okay, but first I'm taking a nap."

"Lazy."

"Oh like you can talk – look at you, you can barely keep your eyes open," Duo grumbled.

"I'm injured," Heero protested, but he finally allowed his eyes to close.

Duo watched as his breathing evened out and his body relaxed.

The bed shifted as Trowa rolled onto his side, away from Duo.

"Thanks for not being a shitty Soul Mate," Duo told him. He reached out and ran a hand over Trowa's hip. He drew his shirt up and rested his hand against Trowa's bare flesh, enjoying the instant feeling of contentment he felt at the contact.

"Just don't make me do it again," Trowa said. He caught Duo's hand as he started to move away and used it to pull Duo closer so that he was pressed against his back. "I really don't like seeing you in a hospital bed."

"I'll keep that in mind," Duo promised. He adjusted his arm so that he was holding Trowa a little higher and then he closed his eyes.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duo and Trowa were the last to arrive for Relen'a dinner party – Hilde and Quatre had driven up together so that she could fill him in on the serial killer's latest victim – and Duo was both grateful and mildly uneasy that she had arranged to have caterers serve them in her massive suite.

Hilde greeted him with a hug, and he held her tightly, breathing in her clean scent and basking in the warmth of her magic.

"How is Heero?" She asked as they sat down with everyone else.

"Recovering at home," Duo told her.

"Excellent. Shall we drink a toast to his health?" She suggested and raised a glass of champagne.

Duo had barely managed to take a sip from his own glass when she continued.

"And now I want to hear all about how you became involved with this gorgeous creature."

Duo choked on his champagne.

Relena's smile was practically predatory as she looked over Trowa.

"An excellent specimen," she continued. "And while I applaud your taste, I'm very curious about just when you started to relax your ban on shape shifters sharing your bed? Is he just that good?" She winked at Duo.

He could feel Trowa's irritation, and while he was used to the way that Relena discussed sex and potential lovers as though they really were little more than fresh meat – as Heero had said – he knew that she could at times be grating on other people's nerves.

"Quatre introduced us," Duo said, determined to ignore any slight she had given Trowa and not start an argument.

"You introduced Duo Maxwell to a shape shifter?" She turned her amused gaze to Quatre. "What on earth possessed you to do so?"

Quatre sighed. "I didn't know he was at the time…"

Relena arched an eyebrow and looked back at Trowa.

"He's practically broadcasting it," she pointed out. It was true – once Duo had discovered his secret, Trowa had never bothered to mask his shape shifter magic around him.

Duo looked at Trowa and smirked at the look on his face.

A moment later he could barely feel Trowa's magic at all, it was just a faint, golden wash, and he was fairly confident that only he could feel that.

Relena's eyes widened. "Oh my. Most impressive. What else can he do?"

"He can speak," Trowa answered her, his voice terse.

"So he can." Relena arched an eyebrow. " Can he also explain why he decided to deceive the Arbiter and the Executioner?"

Duo sighed.

"Relena –"

"Duo. He can speak for himself. He said so." Her voice had taken on the icy, commanding tone that she used on rebellious minions.

"Well?" She prompted Trowa. "If I'm not mistaken it is in fact, now illegal in this country to deceive someone into thinking you aren't a magic user."

"I was never directly asked," Trowa said eventually, the expression on his face making it clear he would rather stab Relena with a fork than answer her.

"Hm. So you still felt it was warranted that you deceive your Soul Mate?"

"I didn't know he was at the time. And yes, I felt it was warranted."

"Why? Because you knew who Duo was?"

Trowa inclined his head.

"Ah. I see. You wanted to cozy up to the Executioner and win him over to the plight of the shape shifters."

"Yes."

"And how did that work out for you?"

Quatre and Hilde were starting to look as tense as Duo felt. He sighed.

"Relena, is now really the time –"

"Duo, I've known you for four hundred years. In that time I know that you have buried five human servants, your best friend, and the love of your life. You have absolutely no concept of watching your own back, and I've seen you lose too many people that you care about. So, yes, now is the time to interrogate this shape shifter – and your human servant – because if I don't look out for you, no one will."

She turned back to Trowa.

"Now, I would like to know what guarantee you can give me that you aren't still trying to use Duo to fight for the freedom of shape shifters. Because you now have the Executioner as a Soul Mate – which means that he would sooner kill himself than you and he isn't likely to lay a finger on any other shape shifter for fear of hurting you."

"I don't think that's true," Trowa argued. "No, I don't think he would harm me, but I also know he's intractable on the issue of shape shifter's rights. He's more likely to side with Treize on any issue involving shape shifters than not. It's not Duo who should be concerned with someone watching his back. I'm the one who has to fight for my very right to walk into a room without permission from someone."

Relena's eyes narrowed.

"And you think Duo won't fight alongside you."

"I know he won't. He's blinded by prejudice."

"I believe you mean that's he's had nearly a thousand years of experiential evidence of knowing that shape shifters are a danger to society."

"I don't believe that either," Trowa argued.

"Really? Do you know what Duo's greatest fear is? Either of you?" She turned her gaze to Hilde.

"Relena, enough. Leave them alone."

"Well?" She continued, completely ignoring Duo.

Hilde paled and looked over at him.

"No," she admitted.

Trowa remained stonily silent.

"His greatest fear –"

"Relena. They don't need –"

" – is dying in a fire. And do you know why that is his greatest fear?" She paused long enough to glare at both of them. "When he was a child he lived in a monastery in Scotland. A monastery that had a habit of taking in strangers who needed protection from the elements or from the world. The leader of the monastery, Father Maxwell, took in a group of peasants one night – a family five – and as soon as the monks and acolytes had gone to sleep the family shifted into their wolves and butchered the monks. Once they had had their fill, they set the monastery on fire so that none of their victims would live long enough to become shape shifters themselves. There were only two survivors – Duo and Solo, his Ephemeral companion."

Quatre and Hilde wore identical expressions of horror on their faces, but Trowa was locked in a glaring match with Relena.

"And that is only the first in a long list of incidents that Duo has –"

"Relena. Enough. Please."

She looked at him, and the pained expression on his face made her sigh.

"They should know. They should understand. And he–"

"Five people's action, however horrific, should not be used to judge an entire race," Trowa interrupted.

"Then what about the hundreds of others Duo has faced over the years? Surely their actions –"

"We aren't animals. I've met vampires more vicious than any shape shifter and faeries more likely to kill children than the shape shifters I protect."

"So have I," Duo growled, thoroughly irritated with Relena for making this an issue.

"And as a result you are filled with more self-loathing than anyone else I have ever met." Relena shook her head. "You truly believe that all Old Ones are a threat to humans."

"We are!"

"You said it yourself, I've buried every human I've ever cared about. And they've died because of me. You can't tell me their lives wouldn't have been better without my involvement."

"Actually, I can. Being your servant prolonged their lives, saved them from disease, and gave them the chance to be with you. A chance that I sincerely hope these two understand is one they should kill for."

"Each other?" Duo suggested, trying to lighten the mood.

Relena looked serious for a moment longer, but then she relaxed and smiled slightly.

"That is not what I meant." She sighed. "I simply want to make sure that they understand –"

"They understand, Relena. They've met me. They know I don't have a past full of rainbows and unicorns."

"You don't?" Hilde asked, jumping in. Duo shot her a look of gratitude.

"Well, I suppose I'll end the interrogation. Tell me about the new developments regarding this serial killer."

Duo let Hilde and Quatre take the lead on explaining the situation to Relena. He looked over at Trowa. He was still withdrawn, his magic barely a flicker, and his face had the blank look that meant he was angry and trying to hide it.

He reached out under the table and grabbed Trowa's clenched fist.

Trowa flinched away from him and then relaxed, allowing Duo to pry his fingers lose.

" – my brother doing there?" Relena asked.

Duo cleared his throat.

"Helping me get rid of the ritual circle. Uh, that reminds me – I asked if the serial killer was a servant to one of the Council members."

"Is he?" Hilde asked. "You didn't tell me you had a lead."

"I don't. He didn't." Duo sighed and shifted in his chair so that it was easier for him to rub his fingers over the back of Trowa's hand. "He said that the Ephemeral had never been a servant, but was instead the master of the greatest threat to the Council. He wouldn't say anything more – Treize swore him to silence with a blood oath. Anyway, Relena, do you have any idea what he's talking about?"

She looked pale.

"Duo," Quatre spoke up, "isn't Treize's biggest concern that you are a threat to the Council?"

Duo shrugged. "Sure, but am I his greatest threat? Besides, I don't have a master. Not unless we're talking about Jason. I haven't… I haven't had another master since…"

He looked at Relena, and the faery had gone completely white.

All of the pieces started to fit together – and Duo was overwhelmed with fury.

"Relena."

She flinched, but met his gaze.

"The only master I've ever served aside from Jason was an Ephemeral. An Ephemeral that was executed by the Old Council four hundred years ago."

Relena blinked.

"Relena, tell me that the Council executed Solo four hundred years ago. Tell me that my master hasn't been alive all of this time and you knew."

"Duo, Jason –"

"Son of a bitch!"

Duo jerked away from Trowa and stormed from the hotel room. His only thought was tracking down Treize and finding out just where Solo was and why he had kept his existence a secret. And if he needed to stab Treize with something sharp and silver a few times in the process, Duo was okay with that.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Sixteen

Not since Anthony's execution had Duo felt this kind of blinding rage.

It was fortunate that his motorcycle was still at the hotel. Less fortunate that he didn't still have the valet ticket. Even more unfortunate for the kid working the valet booth that Duo had absolutely no patience for arguing and simply used his magic to induce so much fear in the kid that he literally ran from his post.

Duo collected the motorcycle keys and his helmet from the valet booth and within five minutes was speeding down the freeway back to Las Vegas.

Even the freezing wind whipping against him did little to chill his anger. He could have spent the nearly half hour bike ride making a plan to break into Mandalay Bay and see Treize – but it took him only a heartbeat to decide that he had no interest in using stealth and even less interest in doing this the polite way.

Duo had never bothered to hide his magic, and as he rode the elevator up to the Council penthouse suite he made every effort to broadcast his fury. He wanted them to know he was coming, and he wanted them terrified.

When the elevator doors opened he was greeted by four vampires. None of them were older than a few hundred years, and none were powerful enough to even slow Duo down.

He projected the pain and agony of sunlight eating through their flesh, and within seconds all four were writhing on the ground, crying out in pain.

Duo sneered as he walked over their bodies.

He swept through the empty living room and into the Council room. It was empty save for a handful of shape shifters. Duo recognized Martha, Ralph, and Catherine. The other two that stood with them he recognized as belonging to other Council members.

"Where is Treize?" Duo demanded.

"Where is my brother?" Catharine countered.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"He's with the Emissary. And he's not my problem. Now tell me, where the hell is Treize?"

"I think the better question is what the hell you think you're doing here, storming into a place where you have NO friends, and failing to realize that none of us are afraid of you," Catharine said. She tossed her hair. "You tortured my brother and if Treize orders you to, I've no doubt that you will kill him. I'm not about to let that happen."

"What – oh for fuck's sake I do not have time for this!" Duo shouted at her. He looked to Martha, but the one eyed shape shifter looked every bit as eager to rip Duo apart as Catharine did.

"Listen, lady, I don't have any beef with you. Just tell me where Treize is and we can continue this fight some other time. But right now –"

Before he could finish Catharine leapt at him, transforming into a lion in midair. It was one of the most fluid shifts Duo had even seen, and if had any doubt how powerful Catharine and Trowa were as shape shifters those doubts were now erased.

He barely managed to roll out of her way as she landed on the marble where he had been standing.

She snarled at him and started to charge again.

Duo couldn't get out of the way fast enough, and she sank massive teeth into his right forearm as he brought it up to shield his neck and face.

"Fuck!" He cried out in pain as she ripped through flesh and muscle and snapped bone.

He used all of his physical and magical strength to hurl her away from him.

Catharine slid across the marble floor but hadn't even come to a stop before she was back up on her feet.

"Enough!" Duo channeled his anger and pain towards her, stopping her completely in her tracks. He kept the onslaught up, sending wave after wave of rage towards her until she was whimpering.

"I do not want to harm any of you," Duo directed this to the shape shifters behind him. He noticed Martha was only barely holding them back. He glared at her. "You know that. Now tell me where Treize is before I'm forced to do any more harm to your pack leader's sister!"

The shape shifters cowered under his fury.

"He's feeding," Martha finally spoke up. "In his suite." She jerked her head to indicate the hallway that continued past the Council hall. "The golden door."

"Thank you." Duo sneered at them but ceased to use his magic on Catharine. She collapsed on the floor, her breathing labored.

He stalked out of the room, cradling his right arm and mentally cursing.

Somehow Duo didn't think Treize would be overly intimidated by him if he stumbled into the room unable to use his dominant sword arm.

The thought didn't slow him down, however. Duo was determined to get answers, and revenge.

He again used his magic to induce fear into the two vampires guarding Treize's door and then barged in, flinging it open with his magic.

Treize was reclining in an armchair beside a roaring fire. He was dressed only in a loosely belted dressing down, and seated by his feet was a naked human. The man was built like a body-builder, his tanned muscles straining against his skin in unnatural definition, and his short blonde hair was spiked up with gel. Two puncture marks in his neck slowly leaked blood.

The human's eyes widened as they focused on Duo, traveling from his bleeding arm up to his furious face.

Duo's own eyes narrowed as he recognized him. It was Chris, the dancer from Chippendales that had tried to pick him up at the bar.

"Executioner, not that your manners have ever been what they should, but it is considered impolite to barge unannounced into someone's room."

"Where is he?" Duo demanded.

Treize arched an eyebrow and looked on the verge of offering a witty comeback, but something in Duo's face must have given him pause.

"You've finally figured it out. That only took four hundred years," Treize muttered.

"Where is he?"

Treize shrugged.

"I've no idea. You're his servant – why don't you reach out to him?" Treize smirked.

Duo sneered. "I can't, and you know it." When Duo had given in to the Old Council's torture and tried to bargain for Solo's freedom, the Ephemeral had completely cut off their magical connection – the pain of it had been even worse than one hundred lashes from Deathscythe – and Duo had only ever felt a raw, aching void where they had once been attached.

"He's been alive – you knew he was alive – this entire time," Duo thundered.

"I never did understand why Jason wanted you," Treize mused. He steepled his fingers and balanced his chin on them. "As soon as we had captured the two of you, Jason decided that you were the one of greater use to him. Solo was destined to die from the start." Treize shrugged. "But, of course, Jason was concerned that your power might not be as great without your master alive, and Jason didn't want his toy to be broken before he even had the chance to play with it. So he ordered Solo to be thrown into a silver coffin for the rest of eternity."

Duo's eyes narrowed.

"He's been in a coffin for four hundred years? You sick bastard."

" If you want me to tell you about him, then you have to shut up." Treize glared at him. "When I emigrated, Jason gave me leave to bring Solo with me. He never knew that you would follow me to the new world. It was my task to keep him hidden from you. Which I did, admirably."

"Clearly he isn't in a damn coffin any longer," Duo growled.

"No, he isn't." Treize sighed in irritation. "I released him five years ago, when all of this nonsense about legalizing magic first started to be discussed."

"Why?"

"Because if there is anyone alive who hates magic users more that you, it is him. I counted on his cooperation to bring about an end to this ridiculousness."

"Let me guess, he told you to fuck off."

"Yes," Treize growled. "At first he seemed to want to cooperate, but then he developed his own agenda."

"Funny how you just can't seem to make friends by throwing people in a coffin for a few hundred years," Duo muttered. "Where is he now?"

"I told you, I have no idea."

"When did you last see him?"

"The night you first returned to the Council," Treize answered. "He felt you." He smirked. "And he asked for my assistance in punishing you."

"Wha –" Before Duo could finish the question he felt the burn of silver on his throat as someone strangled him with silver chains.

He struggled against his attacker, but Treize rose from his chair and removed a stiletto dagger from the mantle of the fireplace. He approached Duo, and he could see the gleam of silver in the firelight.

"I always thought Solo was the more powerful of you two, certainly the more intelligent," Treize said. He traced the dagger over Duo's cheek, using the flat side of the blade to burn his skin. "But he's also much harder to control. I told him that I would give you to him if he would assist me in getting rid of the new Arbiter. But he took entirely too long to deal with that situation, and his recent behavior… has not been very cooperative."

Treize pulled back and then shoved the dagger deep into Duo's gut, jerking it upwards until it was buried under his ribs.

Duo choked on the pain and the rush of blood he felt travel up his throat.

"So now it's time to show all of you just what it means to cross the Head of a Council." Treize sneered and pulled the dagger free.

"Noin, take him to the dungeons. Let him rot for a time."

"Treize, Jason –" Noin's voice sounded strained and distant, and Duo started to lose focus on the room.

"Jason is in Europe," Treize said coldly and sat back down in his armchair. "And the Executioner is here. He attacked my servants and had every intention of attacking ME. He will be punished accordingly." Treize sneered. "Under the damn laws that his Arbiter is so happy to enforce."

Duo lost consciousness.

 

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He had no idea how much time had passed when he woke up in a dark cell, wrapped in silver chains, and with only the distant glow of a florescent light casting a blue glow over him.

"It lives."

Duo looked up at the droll statement.

Noin was on the other side of the dungeon, leaning back against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest, surveying him. In the shadows Duo could make out little of her expression.

"It fucking hurts," he added.

She smirked.

"Then maybe it should learn to stop acting like an idiot," she shook her head. "You would think, that after four hundred years, you would learn to recognize a losing fight with the Council when you saw one."

"No such thing," Duo muttered and then spat out blood. He cleared his throat and instantly regretted it as the silver chain around his neck tightened.

"There's not much I can do to help you, Executioner," Noin said.

"You've done plenty already," Duo assured her, "what with the silver chains and holding me still while Treize gutted me. Really, you don't need to do anything else."

"Relena would have my head if I allowed you to die," Noin said with a sigh.

Duo frowned, and then laughed.

"It's you? You're her spy? Oh – that's just – that's genius!"

For as long as Duo had known her, Noin had been desperately in love with Zechs Merquise. She had abandoned her position on the Old Council to follow him to the new world when he left to follow Treize, and Duo had seen her kill men for even insulting the Light Court Faery. She wasn't an idiot, she knew he was only interested in men, but that didn't stop her from protecting him. When she had first caught Duo in Zechs' bed, hundreds of years ago, she had been ready to kill him out of jealousy, and had spent years warning him off of Zechs.

"Relena has her brother's best interests at heart, and it's clear that Zechs is blinded by his devotion to Treize," Noin said in self-defense.

"Uh huh, yeah. Zechs isn't the only one who's blind here. So which side are you going to be on when Treize kills me and brings on a war? You going to fight for Jason and Relena or for Treize and Zechs?"

"I gave my oath to obey Relena," Noin growled.

"But Zechs –"

"It's clear that the only solution is for there to NOT be a war, isn't it?" Noin interrupted. "If you hadn't stormed in here waving a damn flag and alerting EVERY magic user within three blocks of your presence, you might have actually been able to kill Treize! Now look what you've done!"

"I'm so very sorry to ruin your plans," Duo apologized with a sneer.

They glared at each other.

"So when's the execution?" He asked. "Because that's what he's going to push for – right? He's got a whole list of crimes I've committed and he's going to suggest to the Council that I'm too unstable to leave alive, huh?"

Noin reluctantly nodded.

"He's convening the Council right now. Relena and the Arbiter are on their way. Your human servant –"

"She can't be here! Promise me, Noin, do not let her be here when they kill me!"

"Promise you? I owe you nothing, Executioner. Why wouldn't I want your human to suffer through your death?"

"Because you know what it feels like!"

"Yes, I do."

As much as Noin worshipped Zechs, it was Noventa she had served, when the vampire had been alive, and Duo knew that she had felt his death as keenly as though it had been her own.

"Look, you're getting your revenge on me – for everything. Don't punish her."

Noin sighed.

"I'll do what I can. But when Jason declares war and puts a price on Treize's head, no magic user in the States will be safe."

"You know, you could just let me go… avoid the whole war thing and letting down Relena."

"No, I can't," Noin told him. She shook her head. "And your master is still out there – still ready to kill all of us."

"Why? Why the hell would Treize ever think that Solo would listen to him?"

"The same reason you ever listened to Jason in the first place. You had no alternative, and you wanted vengeance. That's what Treize offered Solo – he proved to him that he had no other options, and then he offered him the chance to finally get revenge."

"After he'd been in a coffin for four hundred years. How many magic users have you met that stay sane after that?"

"None," Noin growled. "Which I pointed out to Treize repeatedly. But Solo is the most powerful Ephemeral any of us have seen and Treize… Treize likes to win."

"Well, it looks like he's finally going to win the fight against me," Duo muttered.

"Shame, too." Noin looked down at him for a long moment and then shook her head. "I'll come get you when they're ready for you, Executioner."

She swept from the room, and Duo leaned back against the dungeon wall. He tried to ignore the burn of the silver chains wrapped around his throat and chest. The pain from the wound in his side was easier to ignore, but the overwhelming sense of failure he felt was perhaps the worst.

He had thought Solo was dead, and all this time he had been alive. And now he had been driven to madness and apparently wanted his revenge on Duo.

"Fuck my life."

 

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He had no idea how much time had passed, but he must have lost consciousness at some point, because he snapped awake at the sound of the cell door opening.

But it wasn't Noin come to escort him to his death.

Heero and Trowa stepped into the cell and Heero set to work removing Duo's chains.

"What the – how the hell did you two get in here?"

"Magic," Trowa said with a smirk that quickly turned into a grimace when he took in Duo's wounds. "What have you been up to?"

"Getting stabbed by Treize and then wrapped in silver chains. Oh yeah, and learning that my master was locked into a coffin for four hundred years and now he's out and wants to kill me. What have you been up to?"

"When you took off I went back to your apartment to get Heero. I figured I'd need him."

"He's injured," Duo pointed out.

"I think I'm in better shape than you," Heero argued and removed the last of Duo's chains. He looked at his arm. "That looks like a shape shifter tried to rip your arm off."

"Yeah. That's pretty much what happened."

"Who?" Trowa growled.

"Your sister," Duo sighed. He stood up with Heero's help.

Trowa's eyes narrowed.

"I told her –"

"Can we talk later and escape now?" Heero interrupted. "When Trowa got us in here it looked like the entire Council was assembled."

"Quatre and Relena too?"

Trowa nodded.

"They're arguing for your release right now… but Treize is trying to twist the law to his side of things. The Council has always been split about Jason – half of them would rather follow Treize, while the other half want to keep things the way that he ran the Old Council. I'm not sure he can convince them to go against his wishes."

"We're leaving, now," Heero spoke up and started to drag Duo out of the cell.

Trowa led them out of the dungeons and down those same back stairs that Duo had once dragged him.

"Brings back memories," Duo said.

"Want me to slam you against the wall a few times?" Trowa offered.

"Nah, I'm good."

They made it to the residential level and got into an elevator. The doors were just about to close when a group of drunken tourists piled in.

It took only a few seconds for the first of the tourists to notice Duo's bloody arm, chest, and neck.

One of the girls pointed and started to scream, and all hell was clearly about to break loose, but then Duo felt the wash of Trowa's magic fill the elevator car.

The tourists seemed to instantly calm down, and Duo watched in shock as they started to talk to one another – completely ignoring the three of them.

"So that's how your magic works," Duo said, turning to Trowa.

"Usually," Trowa agreed. It didn't even look like the magic was an effort for him, and Duo was impressed.

They made it down to the ground floor of the hotel, and Trowa pulled off his jacket and draped it over Duo's shoulders in an attempt to cover some of the blood.

"Where's Hilde?" Duo asked as they got into Trowa's car and the shape shifter started to pull out of the parking lot.

"She was on the phone with Wufei when we left the hotel," Trowa said.

Duo frowned and reached out, searching for Hilde, and he was relieved when he felt her. She was safe, if stressed, and Duo trusted that she wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Can I ask what the hell you were thinking?" Heero asked, reminding Duo that while Hilde wasn't likely to do anything stupid – he had.

"I wasn't," he admitted.

"Trowa said something about Solo being alive – and being your master. I thought he was an Ephemeral."

"Yeah… Solo's probably the last Ephemeral who was – is – powerful enough to become an Old One. I was still a kid when we bonded, and he was already incredibly powerful." Duo shrugged. "So he became my master."

"And you aren't concerned that he's going to use that to his advantage? Maybe to torture you to death?" Trowa suggested.

"Not until you just mentioned it, no," Duo sighed. "I didn't – hell, I've spent almost half a millennia thinking he was dead. I'm having trouble adjusting to the idea of him being alive."

"And wanting to kill you," Trowa added.

"Yeah, okay, I've got it."

"He's the serial killer," Heero said.

"Yep."

"And he's likely insane."

"I think it's safe to say it's more than likely."

"And he's strong enough to be your master." Heero looked back at Duo in the backseat. "We have to kill him."

"No! No, we do not have to kill him!" Duo reacted immediately.

"Duo, he's butchering innocent people."

"I just need to find him, talk to him. He –"

"Wants to kill you," Heero interrupted. "You said it yourself – you've always said that he never forgave you for giving in when the Council tortured you."

Duo opened his mouth to argue, but Trowa abruptly slammed on the breaks.

"I can feel exactly what you're thinking," he said, his voice a dangerous growl. "And if you think for one second that you're going to let him kill you, I'll do the job myself. You do not deserve to die at his hands, and you're an idiot if you think that your life is worth that little."

Cars started to honk furiously, but Trowa continued to glare at Duo in the rearview mirror.

"Duo."

He looked away from Trowa and met Heero's gaze.

"We need to get you healed and when need to sit down and talk."

"The Council will send someone after me as soon as they realize I'm gone," Duo pointed out.

"Which is why we aren't going back to your condo. We're going to our new house."

Duo had to laugh.

"What a great housewarming – hiding out from the Council as they plot my execution!"

Trowa finally put the car back in gear and started driving again.

"Don't forget hiding from your psychotic master," Trowa mumbled.

The rest of the car ride was in silence, and by the time they arrived at the house, Duo had sunk into a deep depression.

Heero had, true to his word, selected a house that was on a street lined with 'For Sale' signs. Only the dim glow of a distant street light illuminated the two storey stucco house that Trowa pulled up in front of.

Duo could make out few details, and as he stumbled in the dark towards the front door he discovered that there were quite a few cacti in the front yard.

Heero let them in and locked the door behind them before flicking on a light.

They had entered through the living room, and Duo was pleasantly surprised to see that it was already furnished.

He hoped that Heero had thought to get a bed also.

"The master bedroom is upstairs. You should shower."

"Okay…"

"There's a Walmart down the street. I'll go and get a few supplies."

"Supplies?"

"Linens – towels – food."

"How are you even functioning right now?" Duo asked him.

"I'm fine," Heero growled. "I don't have a gaping hole in my stomach or parts of my bones outside of my body."

"Yeah, but –"

"Duo. Shower. Now."

He resented being ordered, but Heero looked intractable, and Trowa looked ready to carry him up the stairs if he started to argue again.

"I'll be back in twenty minutes," Heero assured him. "Mind if I borrow your car?" He asked Trowa.

The shape shifter passed him the keys.

"Don't do anything else stupid until I get back," Heero instructed. Before Duo could offer a comeback the human left.

"Bastard," Duo muttered.

Trowa crossed his arms and jerked his head in the direction of the stairs. Duo sighed.

"Fine. Fine. Treat me like a damned incompetent."

He started up the stairs and Trowa followed closely.

The master bedroom was enormous, and was dominated by a king sized bed that looked like heaven to Duo at that moment. He barely resisted the urge to just collapse on it and give in to the darkness already clouding his vision.

"Turn around," Trowa instructed.

Duo did so without thinking to argue, and Trowa started to undress him.

"I can undress myself," Duo protested.

"Really?" Trowa asked, amused. "With that arm and that hole in your side?"

Duo frowned and tried to undo the fly on his jeans with his good hand. The movement had him reaching across his side and he gasped in pain and gave up.

"Okay, you win."

"You have to realize that you're out numbered," Trowa pointed out as he started to ease Duo's clothes off. "Heero and I aren't nearly as unified as you seem to think we are, but we're in complete agreement that you don't put as much value on your life as you should."

"Yeah, well, it's my life so I think I have a greater say in it."

"So Heero and I just get to pick up the pieces and clean you up after you pull stupid stunts like this."

"This wasn't a stupid stunt, this was – son of a bitch!"

Trowa had taken Duo's rant as an opportunity to rip Duo's right sleeve away from his wound, and the flash of pain was intense.

"Shower," Trowa directed when he had Duo naked.

Duo followed him into the master bathroom and pushed Trowa aside when he moved to turn on the taps.

"I can do it," Duo grumbled. He adjusted the water to near scalding and then climbed into the shower.

He was surprised when Trowa joined him a moment later.

"I can wash myself," Duo pointed out.

"But you can't heal yourself."

"I am not up for sex right now."

"I don't think we need to go that far," Trowa mused. He ran one hand along Duo's jaw, and he leaned into the touch. "I'm better at sharing magic than you, and I have experience healing pack members. We just need to jump start the connection and I think that I'll be able to heal you."

"Jump start it how?" Duo asked. "Because as amazing as you are in bed, all I can feel right now is a lot of pain."

"Just shut up for a minute, will you?" Trowa suggested, but he was smirking, and Duo found himself relaxing at the expression.

Trowa closed the space between them, and pressed his front against Duo's back. He bent his head down and kissed Duo's neck, sucking slightly on the sensitive skin under his ear.

Duo shivered at the sensation and he felt their bond start to emerge.

Trowa's hands ghosted over his hips and lower, stroking Duo's penis into an erection. He turned Duo slightly so that their lips could meet, and Duo welcomed the familiar cinnamon flavor of the other man. The sharp, exotic taste filled his mouth and Duo felt a rush of heat and energy.

Trowa pulled away and knelt in front of Duo and licked his way down the length of Duo's erection before taking it into his mouth.

Duo groaned at the sensation and had to lean back against the shower wall to steady himself as Trowa continued to suck on him.

He tried to focus on the pleasure and the golden magic that was rising between them. He made himself shut out thoughts of Solo and the aching pain of failure that was worse than the physical pain of his wounds.

When he came a few minutes later the orgasm felt somehow cathartic.

Magic surrounded him – the same golden magic that they always created, but Duo could also feel the magic that was distinctly Trowa's. All of it washed over him, and he could feel it start to knit his flesh back together.

Trowa was still kneeling in front of him, and there was a look of intense concentration on his face as he directed the magic to heal Duo.

It took nearly fifteen minutes, but Duo felt his radius and ulna bones start to shift and heal. It was painful, but the pain was welcome in comparison to the throbbing of the injuries themselves.

Heero found them still in the shower when he arrived twenty minutes later – considerably later than his projected return time.

"What took you so long?" Duo asked. He ran a hand over his freshly healed side. The flesh was tender, but there was no longer a gaping hole revealing his intestines, so Duo had little to complain about.

"I've never seen anything like that," Heero said, and there was a hint of awe in his voice.

It wasn't easy to impress Heero, but Duo knew that this situation – the incredible rate of healing that Trowa was forcing Duo's body to undergo – easily warranted the reaction.

He had only ever experienced something like this when Zechs had healed him after being tortured with Deathscythe.

Trowa finally finished and he rose to his feet, a satisfied smirk on his face as he surveyed his handiwork.

"Damn," Duo said as he felt his newly healed arm, "I don't think even Zechs could have healed me this well."

"Son of a god," Trowa reminded him. "And I've had thousands of years of experience healing those kinds of injuries. I'm sorry my sister did that."

"Yeah, well, she's not really on my priority list of issues to deal with right now," Duo said. He looked over at Heero. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," Heero assured him. "I'm healing faster than usual. I think it's because of the transfusion – something about your blood is different."

Duo sighed. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it has to do with the fact that Solo's gotten more powerful. He might be trying to shut me out of our connection, but even he can't stop the flow of magic." He shook his head. "And if he's more powerful –"

"Help me make up the bed," Heero interrupted him.

Duo glared, but caught the towel that Heero threw at him and dried off. His hair was a heavy, wet rope down his back, but he ignored it.

He wrapped the towel around his waist and then followed Heero into the bedroom, Trowa close behind him as he too dried off.

"Please tell me you also bought some clothes. There's no way I'm putting those back on," Duo said, indicating the bloody and ripped clothes he had previously discarded.

"Yes," Heero assured him.

"Thank god."

Duo helped him make up the bed, and no sooner had they pulled the comforter up than he dropped his towel and climbed under it.

Heero looked amused, but undressed and joined him. A moment later Trowa climbed in on the other side of the bed.

"Tomorrow I'll contact my pack and have them start to look for Solo."

Duo sighed. "Careful about that. Solo can control shape shifters."

"Control how?"

"As in force them to shift and then do what he directs them to do. 'S how we used to get the bastards back in the days of the Brotherhood."

"You never mentioned that before," Heero said.

"Yeah, well, he was never still alive before." Duo groaned. " I am so fucked."

He still couldn't wrap his head around the concept of Solo being alive. It was considerably easier to accept the fact that Solo wanted to kill him – and Duo wondered just what that said about the state of his mental health.

"Quatre won't let the Council execute you," Heero assured him.

"He might not have a choice. Treize is willing to risk a war with Jason over this."

"Then we'll kill him before he has the chance to kill you," Heero said matter of factly.

Duo looked into his eyes, and he could see that Heero was deadly serious.

"Killing Treize likely means killing half the Council to get to him," Duo pointed out.

"I like our odds," Trowa spoke up.

Duo snorted.

"What, the three of us versus the world?"

"No, we have Hilde, Quatre, Relena, and my pack. But even if it was the three of us – I still like our chances."

"I'm more concerned about Solo," Heero said. "And your reaction to him."

"You and me both," Duo muttered.

He noticed that Heero's eyes were starting to blink less frequently.

"Let's sleep on it," Duo suggested. "Maybe we'll be inspired. Besides – I'm thinking we aren't going to get the chance for any peace coming up soon."

"Hn." Heero rolled over so that his back was to Duo.

Duo also rolled over, so that he was facing Trowa.

The shape shifter got up and turned out the overhead light before climbing back into the bed.

"Your sister is a crazy bitch," Duo told him as Trowa reached out and draped an arm across his hip.

"Try living with her for a few thousand years," Trowa responded, his voice tired.

"Pass. Please." A sudden thought occurred to him. "When you tell her we're Soul Mates – she's really going to try and kill me, isn't she?"

"Yeah."


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Seventeen

When Duo woke the next morning it was just after dawn, and the weak, grayish light that streamed in under the blinds barely illuminated the bedroom. He could see well enough to notice that he was alone, however, and the spots on either side of him were cool, indicating that both Heero and Trowa had been up for a while.

He lay there for a few more minutes, staring up at the ceiling and trying to banish the memories and nightmares that had plagued his sleep. Images of Solo being tortured refused to go away, and Duo's last sight of him – his golden, tanned skin and hair spattered with his own blood and his vivid blue eyes narrowed in hatred – was seared into his own eyes. Even blinking didn't seem to clear it.

Duo forced himself to get up and looked around for clothing. Finding none he decided to venture downstairs.

Heero and Trowa were in the kitchen, both dressed and nursing cups of coffee, and they looked up with neutral, slightly guilty expressions when he entered.

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"Talking about me?" He asked.

"Discussing possible strategies for dealing with Treize and Solo," Heero said, completely unapologetic.

"Any extra clothes?" Duo asked, feeling a little ridiculous standing naked in front of both of them.

Heero moved to the pile of Walmart bags on the floor and after a moment pulled out a pair of boxers, jeans, and a black, long sleeved t-shirt that he passed to Duo.

"Thanks," Duo said. He started to put the clothes on.

"There's also tea – it's not loose, but it is Earl Grey," Heero added.

"That would be nice," Duo said.

Heero nodded and filled a mug with water before sticking it in the microwave. Duo winced at the thought of microwaved water, but he decided that of all the things he had to deal with right now, drinking poorly prepared tea was the least of his issues.

He took the box of tea and honey that Heero handed him and prepared the tea as best he could after the water was hot.

The other two men were still silent, and Duo could feel the tension between them. He sighed.

"Okay, just tell me."

He brought his cup of tea over to the kitchen table, sitting down across from Trowa and beside Heero.

"Solo is a murderer," Heero started. "He's clearly lost any attachment to reality – and morality – and we have to kill him before he endangers anyone else. Including you."

Duo sighed. "Solo is the most powerful Ephemeral I, and anyone else on the Council, have ever seen. He can control shape shifters – he can control me– I don't see how we can stop him. Much less kill him. And I – hell, Heero, I cannot kill him. I can't. He's my master and he –" Duo stopped and shook his head. He couldn't put into words just how wrong the thought of killing Solo was.

"I can kill him," Heero assured Duo, completely missing the point. "He has no control over me. I can see how there's a possibility he could control you or Trowa, but magic doesn't –"

"Damnit Heero! I can't let you kill him! He is my soul mate!" Duo slammed his cup down on the table, ignoring the splash of hot water that briefly burned the back of his hand. "This bullshit Gypsy curse, this magic or whatever – it's not real. This whole thing with Trowa and I – what I feel for him, what happens when we fuck – that's not real . Solo is literally my other half. My whole life has been wrapped around his existence. Even when I thought he was dead – everything I've done has been because of him. He's like the fucking sun for me. Now that he's alive –"

"You want to go back to him," Trowa finished quietly. His expression had slipped into that same neutral, guarded look that masked his real emotions. The facial expression did nothing to hide the swirl of anger and betrayal that Duo felt Trowa experience, however, and he had to swallow hard.

"No, I don't." Duo sighed. "It has nothing to do with what I want. Because what I want is just to get the fuck away from all of this shit and just… exist. But what I have to do is go back to him. He's my master, but more than that, he's the reason I'm alive at all. If he wants to kill me , that's his right – but I cannot be responsible for his death – and if I let you kill him, Heero, I will be responsible for that."

"Why don't you want to go back to him?" Heero asked, and Duo could sense the test in the question. He realized that both Heero and Trowa were a heartbeat away from tying him up, throwing him in a closet, and leaving to take care of Solo themselves.

"Because I'm not who I was four hundred years ago, and neither is he. The Solo I knew… yes, he killed prostitutes and vagrants every once in a while – but not like this. Not to take from them. Before it was always to cleanse their souls, to send them to God."

"What right did he have to do that?" Trowa asked.

"None, obviously. Except that he could, and he was a priest. Solo always served God. Everything he did he believed was to protect the faithful and to carry out God's work."

"He sounds like a lunatic," Heero commented.

Duo glared at him.

"You wouldn't understand. You are a product of the twentieth century and you are a poster-boy for the post-modern existentialist crisis. But back then, all anyone had was their faith. Life was complete shit for humans – the entire world was essentially a third-world country, with dictators and bandits and no real law or order. Except for the Church. And humans weren't the only ones who needed something to believe in – most of the Old Ones I used to know went to mass as often as they could. Half of them thought they had done something to anger God and spent their lives trying to make up for it and the other half were like Solo – they saw their existence, their magic as a gift from God. Not all of them used it for good."

"Neither did he," Trowa muttered. "I've never lived in Europe, and things were very different in my part of the world, but surely you see that he was abusing his power. Even back then Christians believed that you had to ask for forgiveness of your sins and God would grant that. Solo killing those people… it wasn't necessary and it wasn't right."

"I know that. I knew it then. I always knew it wasn't right, but back then it wasn't as wrong. He wasn't – isn't perfect. But you can't sit here and tell me that he's more wrong that I am. That he has done worse than me. You can't tell me that," Duo said, directing his words and gaze to Trowa.

The shape shifter met his gaze steadily.

"Do you seek out innocent people and kill them because you think they did something wrong? Or do you follow the laws of the Council?" Trowa's voice was mild.

"So now you think that makes everything okay," Duo grumbled.

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"No, I don't. And neither do you. Has Solo ever questioned the legitimacy of his actions?"

Duo shook his head. "No. His faith was always… incredibly solid. Even at the end." Duo sighed. "Not like mine." Duo took a sip of the cooling tea in front of him. "But none of this fucking matters – according to Council law I have to go back to my master. It's his right to do what he wants with me."

Heero frowned.

"You would actually deny your commitment to protect humans from evil and from magic users and go back to him? What if he doesn't want to kill you – what if he just wants to get the gang back together and use you to help him with his dirty work? How unstoppable would the two of you be? How many people would be hurt and killed by the two of you?"

Duo shivered at the thought. Together he and Solo would be a terrifying combination. Both men had gotten more powerful, and Solo had obviously gotten crazier… and this was the new world. The Old Ones weren't as powerful as those that had captured the two of them in the first place.

"Eventually I'm sure we'd be stopped… but, yeah…" Duo shook his head. "Doesn't matter either. He wants to kill me – and he has that right."

"Because he is your Soul Mate," Trowa growled.

Duo met his gaze. "Yeah. I said that part already."

Trowa glared back at him.

"You think this isn't real?" Trowa reached out and grasped his forearm and then ran his fingertips over the sensitive skin on the underside. Duo swallowed hard, trying to fight back the sudden golden glow of magic and desire that washed through him.

"It's not. It's just the curse."

"The curse? Do you know what the curse is? It isn't that we're Soul Mates. It isn't that it will force us to complete our bond together. That's what Soul Mates are and what they do. The curse is that I have lived for six thousand years and never known the love of anyone that I loved. That is the curse – that until I find my Soul Mate and bond with him I will never be loved by those that I love. So this – this is real. What you feel for me is real and the magic we create together – that's real." Trowa jerked his head in Heero's direction but kept his gaze focused on Duo. "What you and Heero have together, that is real. The two of you exist for each other. That is what a Soul Mate is."

Duo opened his mouth to interrupt.

"A Soul Mate is not a master," Trowa continued, ignoring Duo. "A Soul Mate doesn't fucking kill his other half. And you know that. You know that this is real. You know that you're better than Solo and you know that he has to die." Trowa paused and continued in a softer voice. "And you know that the Council will execute you – if they can find you before Solo does. You've given up on your survival and instead you're trying to distance yourself to protect us."

"Yeah, well, it's the least I can fucking do," Duo breathed. He shook his head. "My life is just one streak of bad luck followed by another. The two of you – hell, at least you'll have each other. So it's not going to be that bad."

"Do not talk like that," Heero warned. "Do not turn your back on me now."

Duo looked over at him and for once, Heero's face was filled with expression. Anger was etched into his jaw and mouth, but it was the despair in his eyes that took Duo aback.

"I told you before that I would decide when to walk away from this," Trowa added. "You have to let us fight to keep you alive. You have to fight."

Duo ran a hand through his hair.

"There's just – there is no fucking point to any of it anymore. If Solo doesn't kill me – if we somehow manage to kill Treize, the Old Council will have to allow them to execute me. That's two Council chairs I will have assassinated. My days will still be numbered."

"Fine. We'll deal with numbered days." Heero stated. "Humans do it all of the time."

Dou couldn't see his chances of survival extending beyond today – because Solo would kill him – but in the face of Heero and Trowa's combined efforts there seemed to be little point in fighting against them. And Duo was selfish enough to want this last day with them at his side.

Trowa got up and walked towards the sink with his empty cup. Duo caught his sleeve as he passed and pulled him to a stop.

"You never told me about the rest of the curse."

"Not until now, no," Trowa agreed. His face was still slightly guarded. "It wasn't really important to anything. It is my curse, after all."

"Soul Mates tell each other shit like that, though," Duo argued.

"What, you want to hear about all the men I've loved and who never cared for me in return? Do you want the list of my lovers who died before they could become more than a regular fuck?"

"Yes, I do." Trowa was easily as emotionally scarred as Duo, and it made him incredibly sad that Trowa had experienced so much pain.

Trowa sighed. "Not today." He pulled away and moved over to the sink and started to wash his mug.

"You have to fight for him. For us." Heero said softly.

"You really think that the two of you wouldn't just be better off without me anyway?" Duo demanded.

Heero scowled. "Are you suggesting that Trowa would be better off living his entire existence having never felt the love of another person? That I would be better off having only really experienced it for a few days? Duo, the three of us work together, and we need each other. Do you really think that if you died the two of us would be able to function at all? That the sight of the other wouldn't just remind us of you every second of our lives? I told you before, I don't see myself living for long after you die. So we'd be leaving him alone. And no, I don't think that would make anyone better off."

Duo sighed. "Why are you so stubborn? I attract trouble like it's my job and there will never be a time when someone doesn't want me dead."

"Good thing I like trouble, then," Heero said. He stood up and joined Trowa at the sink.

Duo watched the two of them, side by side, as they washed their coffee mugs. He was struck by just how comfortable they looked together, and his mind was quickly backtracking to his initial idea that they would be better off without him.

And then Trowa leaned down and kissed Heero.

The sight of the two men in profile, mouths caressing each other, made Duo's mouth go dry.

One of them turned off the water and they turned towards each other, hips and chests pressed together and Duo was frozen in place, unable to tear his gaze away from the incredibly erotic sight to the two men kissing, their hands running over each other's bodies.

Trowa pulled back from Heero, his hands cupping the other man's jaw.

The look they shared filled Duo with a sense of desperation.

"Fine," he ground out. "Fine. You win." He stood up and advanced on the two of them. "We'll go up against the Council, we'll go up against Solo. People are going to die – me, mostly – and we're going to be in a shit load of trouble. But fine."

Heero stepped back and smirked at Duo.

"I told you before, you're outnumbered."

"Yeah, well –" before he could continue his thought, Heero was kissing him, and Duo decided to stop fighting them.

It was only a moment later when he felt the press of Trowa's firm body against his back and the other man's mouth on his neck, pressing warm, open kissing from his collarbone up to his jaw.

The dual sensations, combined with the shared arousal between him and Trowa, was enough to make him groan. The heat and magic he felt was enough to push the darkness of the future to the back of his mind.

He buried one hand in Heero's hair, pulling him closer and inhaling the warm scent of him. His other hand he ran along the waistband of Heero's jeans and then up, under the hem of his shirt and over the smooth, taut skin of his back.

"You know," Duo said, pulling away from the kiss, "that bed is massive… "

Heero smirked at him. "That's why I got it."

"We should probably test the strength of the frame," Trowa suggested before nipping at Duo's ear.

The trek upstairs was a little painful, as each of them tried to remove both their own clothes and keep contact with one another. Yet, somehow they made it back up to the master bedroom, all naked, and fell back into the massive bed in a pile of tangled limbs.

Heero pulled away from both Trowa and Duo almost instantly, however, and rose from the bed and walked out of the room. Duo frowned as he listened to Heero race back down the stairs.

Trowa took the other man's absence as an opportunity to move over Duo and kissed him. The now familiar taste of cinnamon filled his mouth and Duo had to smile.

Trowa pulled away, the hint of a smile playing on his own lips.

"What?"

"I love the way you taste. It's like… cinnamon, but so much sharper and better than anything I've ever tasted before."

Trowa smirked.

"You taste like this spring near Kailasa Parvata – completely fresh and pure. It reminds me of…before." Trowa finished the thought with a shrug, and Duo was saved from pursuing what was sure to be a painful conversation by Heero returning. He held a tube of lubricant in one hand, brandishing it like a prize.

Duo chuckled.

"Such a Boy Scout," he muttered.

Heero smirked and put the tube on the nightstand before joining them back in the bed.

"Someone needs to be prepared," he pointed out.

"Speaking of," Duo said and moved positioned himself between Heero's legs and grasped his half-hard erection. He stroked it firmly, enjoying the hot, rigid flesh in his hand and the way that Heero's face flushed in arousal.

He leaned down and licked his way down the length of Heero's penis before taking it into his mouth and throat. Heero groaned in pleasure, but it was cut short when Trowa kissed him and swallowed the sound.

Once again, Duo was struck by just how erotic it was to watch the two of them kiss. He sucked on Heero's erection, alternating pressure, and watched as Trowa and Heero continued to kiss.

Heero reached out to stroke Trowa's erection and Duo almost choked as he felt Trowa's pleasure at the contact.

He pulled away from Heero and sat back on his heels, watching the two of them while still working Heero's erection with his hand.

Individually, Duo found both men to be incredibly attractive, and the thought of either of them naked was enough to speed up his pulse – but the sight of both of them, together, clearly enjoying each other so much, was enough to distract him from breathing.

Trowa finally pulled away from Heero's mouth, and his eyes were dark and half-lidded when he looked over at Duo.

"I want to be inside you," he said, the words almost a plea.

"Yes," Duo agreed immediately. He reached across Heero for the lube on the nightstand, kissing Heero as he did so.

"Where do you want to be?" Duo asked him.

"I like where I am," Heero said and kissed Duo again.

Duo smirked.

"Me too."

Duo spread some of the lube onto his fingers before handing the tube to Trowa.

Even as he started to prepare Heero, Duo could feel the brush of Trowa's slick firm fingers at his own entrance.

When Duo finally eased into Heero he held himself still and waited for Trowa.

The sensation of being buried deep inside of Heero and filled by Trowa at the same time was overwhelming, and Duo honestly wasn't sure how long he would last.

Trowa started to move, thrusting forward and forcing Duo to move as well. Heero groaned from their combined efforts.

"Jesus Christ this is intense," Duo gritted out. Every sensation was being magnified by his and Trowa's magic, and as the three men moved in unison Duo was assaulted with waves of pleasure.

He reached out and took hold of Heero's erection again, stroking it in rhythm to the movement of their bodies.

Heero's eyes were dark and seemed bottomless as they looked back at Duo and he felt amazingly content. The feeling of Trowa inside of him, and him inside of Heero – of Trowa's hands and Heero's hands both wrapped around his hips and Trowa's breath hot against the back of his neck – it was perhaps the most whole Duo had ever felt.

Any thoughts of Solo, of death, were banished by the incredible rightness of the physical sensations he was experiencing. Sex before, with either man, had been amazing – but this was entire new level, more intense than the last time they had shared a bed because all of them were equal participants.

As they continued to move in each other, Duo was amazingly aware of the sensations he was experiencing – the friction of his skin against Heero's and Trowa's, the heat of Heero's thighs, the strength in Trowa's grip.

Heero was the first to come, and his tensing muscles triggered both Duo and Trowa's orgasms. Golden magic enveloped Duo and he felt warmer and more alive than he ever had before. Perhaps it was just a contrast to how depressed he had been before – but the magic felt stronger than it had before and Duo basked in the heat and light of it.

Slowly they pulled away from each other, and Duo turned around to kiss Trowa.

"Thank you," he told the other man.

Trowa's eyes were wide and filled with the same kind of wonder that Duo knew his own reflected. He too, had been overwhelmed by the magic.

Duo hopped up from the bed and went in search of a towel, finding one of the ones he or Trowa had used the previous night hanging in the bathroom. He cleaned himself off and then returned to the bedroom and offered the towel to the other two men.

"Damn, I feel like I could take on the entire world right now," Duo mused. He could feel magic singing through his veins and he was filled with energy.

"Good, because that's next on my to-do list," Heero said.

Duo smirked.

"I was on your to-do list?"

"You're always on my to-do list," Heero pointed out.

"So what's your master plan for taking on the world?" Duo asked. He sat down on the edge of the bed. He took advantage of Trowa's proximity to lean his back against the other man's shoulder.

Heero looked past Duo to Trowa.

He could feel the other man tense, and Duo sat back up and turned to face him.

"What?" He asked.

"I need to go back to Treize."

"Why?" Duo ground out. "Relena –"

"Requesting my company, yes, but Treize didn't give me to her. In the past, when this has happened, I've been expected to return within a few days. If I don't come back today – especially after all of this – I will be punished for it."

Duo scowled.

"Plus, it would be helpful for us if one of us knows what the Council is planning."

"I think it would be more helpful for us if one of us wasn't enslaved to a psychopath," Duo muttered.

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"Well, hello there, pot," he responded. "And as happy as I am that you've come around to my side of things regarding the enslavement of shape shifters, now is not the best time to campaign for our freedom."

"Okay, smart ass, you go back to Treize and what – he's going to be pissed as hell that I escaped and I think we've established that he doesn't mind taking out his anger on you. So either way, you're going to get punished."

"Yes," Trowa agreed. "But this way we won't be ignorant."

Duo sighed and looked over at Heero.

"You agree with this?"

"Yes and no," Heero said after a moment. "I agree with the plan, but I think that the two of you should complete your bond before he goes."

"No," Duo immediately argued.

"I told you," Trowa said with a sigh.

Duo frowned.

"A few days ago both of you also thought it would be a shit idea to complete our bond. Why –"

"A few days ago I didn't trust him, and we didn't realize that your master – a psychopath that you are enslaved to – was still alive," Heero pointed out.

"And you?" Duo demanded of Trowa. "What happened to being convinced you would be executed as soon as Treize realized we were Soul Mates?"

Trowa shrugged.

"It's not really my death that I'm concerned about anymore. You're the one who everyone wants to kill. And if bonding fully gives either of us any advantage over our enemies then we should do it."

"Or it's the easiest way to sign your own death certificate," Duo argued. "If we do this, and I die then so will you. It's as simple as that."

"No, it isn't," Trowa quietly insisted. "I've lived six thousand years without love. If you think I'm not willing to do whatever I can to give this," he gestured between the three of them, "a chance to work then you're crazy."

Duo sighed. "Solo can control shape shifters and he can control me. You're damn powerful, so maybe you'll stand a chance of resisting him – but not if we're bonded. He'll use me to control you."

"If he could control you, why hasn't he?" Heero asked, a slight scowl on his face. "All this time – why did he never summon you to his side to free him? Being in a coffin doesn't eliminate your powers, it just makes it damn hard to focus. I'd think that someone as powerful as him could focus enough to call you."

Duo frowned, he had not considered that.

"I don't know, Heero. But I don't see why we should risk this. The odds –"

"I don't care about the odds," Trowa argued. "I've been fighting against the odds my whole life. All of us have. You said you felt like taking on the world, so here's our chance."

Trowa's green gaze was unyielding and Duo finally admitted defeat.

"Okay. We'll complete our bond – but this is, you know, kind of it. We're stuck together for the rest of eternity."

Trowa continued to look serious.

"I'd like that," he said.

Duo swallowed hard but nodded in agreement.

"Me too."

He looked over at Heero, who rolled his eyes.

"Yes. I think it's a good idea."

"We need a knife," Duo pointed out.

Heero reached over to the nightstand and opened the drawer in it. He pulled out a wicked looking silver knife the length of Duo's forearm.

"Sometimes you're a little too prepared, Heero buddy," Duo muttered, but he accepted the silver blade from him. He looked back over at Trowa. "I actually don't know how this works. With a servant I just take their blood – but…"

Trowa nodded. "It should work the same. You take my blood and I take yours."

Duo drew in a deep breath.

"Okay, well…" he dragged the knife across the inside of his wrist, deep enough to draw blood and a hiss of pain at the feel of silver, but not deep enough to do any serious damage. He passed the knife to Trowa, who did the same.

Duo offered his wrist to Trowa and took the other man's hand in his palm. Duo lowered his lips to the thin line of bright red and gently kissed the skin. He could feel the press of Trowa's mouth on his own wrist, and the sensation made him shiver. Duo licked Trowa's blood and felt the shape shifter do the same. For a moment, nothing happened.

And then Duo felt as though a supernova exploded inside of him. For several moments it felt as though his heart stopped beating, and he struggled to draw in a breath. He felt Trowa's grip on his arm turn desperate, and knew that he was no doubt clinging painfully to the other man as well.

Just when Duo was convinced that he was dying he was able to breathe again, and his heart jumpstarted, pounding furiously in his chest. It felt as though he had just run a mile at top speed, and his lungs felt starved for air.

Not only that – but something was clearly wrong with his vision. Everything he saw sparkled, as though it had some sort of glitter on it. Even Trowa's skin, and Heero's hair.

"What the –" he shook his head, but the glittery overlay remained over everything.

"Duo."

He looked over at Trowa, who was frowning slightly. He could feel the other man's sudden rush of euphoria, and when Trowa reached out a ran his thumb over Duo's lips it felt as though an electric current passed between them.

Trowa directed his attention to Duo's wrist, and ran his thumb over the thin, red line from the cut. As he ran his thumb over the skin, Duo felt a jolt of magic travel through his body and the cut vanished. The magic had required absolutely no effort from Trowa at all, just the touch of his thumb.

"Damn," Duo muttered. He rubbed his healed wrist. The cut hadn't been very impressive, but the ease and speed with which Trowa had healed it had been.

Trowa smirked. He leaned forward and kissed Duo, and this time, Duo could taste cinnamon, but something else, something crisp and fresh – like an icy mountain spring. He could taste what Trowa tasted.

"This is going to take some getting used to," Duo decided.

He looked back at Heero, and thankfully, the glitter was starting to fade away.

"I wish you could feel this, Heero," he said. Over the years Duo had wished, on more than one occasion, that Heero could experience magic, but never as much as now. The connection he now felt with Trowa, with their magic, was impossibly elemental, and Duo was nearly high on the sensation.

"I don't need to," Heero said. He moved towards them and kissed first Duo and then Trowa. "I can taste you without magic." He ran his hand down the side of Duo's face. "I can feel you without magic." He kissed Duo again. "I can love you without magic."

Duo kissed him back and pulled Trowa against them so that the three men were once again wrapped together. In that moment, Duo really did feel like he could take on the world, and he was finally ready to.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was another two hours before they were dressed again and piled into Trowa's car and on the way back to the Strip.

Heero had arranged a meeting with his 'guy' – he wasn't very clear about details, but he wanted to gather a few things from Duo's condo, stockpile a few essentials (which for Heero could mean anything from peanut butter to IEDs), and set up a surveillance perimeter at Mandalay Bay.

Duo had Trowa drop him off at the FBI headquarters – he wanted to give Hilde and Wufei updates on Solo – before the other man returned to Treize.

"I guess… I'll see you when I see you," Duo said when Trowa parked at the gas station.

Trowa looked back at him in the rear view mirror.

"I'm okay with it not being too soon," Trowa muttered. "There's no point in forcing a confrontation with the Council until we have to."

"Just… I guess I can't really tell you to be careful."

"Not unless you intend to be," Trowa pointed out.

Using their new connection, Duo reached out and brushed his magic against Trowa's. Both men shivered and Duo smirked.

"Just don't block me out, okay?" He asked.

"The same goes to you," Trowa said, and his voice was fierce.

Duo leaned forward and kissed Trowa firmly before getting out of the car.

He watched Trowa drive off and then turned towards the FBI's headquarters. He reached out, searching for Hilde.

She was inside and he could sense a level of tension in her that wasn't normally present.

Frowning, he walked inside. And instantly regretted it.

A dozen men trained guns on him, and since Duo had spent days yelling at Wufei to make sure that all of the agents had silver bullets in their weapons, he didn't bother to even THINK about fighting.

"Uh… hi," he said. He spotted Wufei and Hilde behind the wall of agents. "New way of greeting friends?" He asked.

"You, Duo Maxwell, are a friend to no one."

Zechs stepped forward, and the smug look he wore made Duo want to risk getting shot by the FBI agents just to punch him.

"Well, I thought we were friends, Zechs," Duo argued. He crossed his arms, trying to look casual.

He reached out to Hilde again, and tension he had felt earlier had exploded into full-on panic. He tried to calm her down, and found that he could project Trowa's golden, coaxing magic at her. She scowled, but he could see her relax.

"You –" Zechs eyes narrowed. He had clearly felt Duo reach out to his servant. "What did you just do? That wasn't your magic."

Duo smirked at his look of anger.

"Borrowed it from a friend," he told him.

"Solo –"

"Ah, no, I said friend, remember, not 'psychotic master who wants to kill me.' There is a difference," Duo arched an eyebrow. "At least, I think there is."

He looked back at Wufei and Hilde.

"Mind telling me what's going on?"

Wufei scowled, but for once, Duo could tell that his simmering rage wasn't directed at him.

"The Council have issued a warrant for your arrest for breaking sacred laws. You are charged with murder and assault and corruption of law and dereliction of duty. They would like to execute you – and according to US law, they have every right to do so."

Duo swallowed and then nodded.

"Okay…"

"He," Wufei jerked his head in Zechs' direction, "wants to take you into Council custody and hold you there until you are to be executed. However, according to the Arbiter, and again, to US law, you are under the jurisdiction of the FBI until an official, legal ruling is made. Because of your past… endeavors with the government, the FBI is unwilling to surrender you until guarantees can be made that you won't be summarily executed without a trial."

Duo said a silent thank you to Heero for asking him along on all of those government jobs in the late 1940s and 1950s.

"Trial?" He echoed. "The Council don't have trials – well, not ones like humans do."

"They do now," Hilde snapped, her dark glare focused on Zechs. "Quatre is finalizing the paperwork now. But we aren't letting them take you until your safety can be guaranteed."

Zechs sneered.

"Hilde, they want to kill me, so I'm pretty sure they won't be offering ANY kind of guarantee except for promising to kill me really, really painfully."

"That is a guarantee," Zechs muttered in agreement.

"All the same, you aren't taking him off the premise. We have holding cells here and he will remain in one of those until the trial." Wufei insisted.

"And what assurances can you give that he won't escape – again?" Zechs glared at him and Duo grinned back.

"Our cells have silver bars, and he will be in silver cuffs," Wufei stated.

"Hell no," Duo argued. "I'll sit in your silver box but I will not wear silver cuffs."

Hilde sighed. "Duo, it's the only way."

He looked back at Zechs and the faerie look triumphant, as though expecting Duo to continue the fight and thus be allowed to take him back to the Council.

"Fine," he ground out.

"Stand down," Wufei ordered, and the FBI agents lowered their guns. None of them looked very comfortable, however, and Duo was gratified to notice that most of them were warily watching Zechs, and not him.

"Come with me," Wufei continued and gestured for Duo to follow him.

Wufei led him to the back of the building and to a row of three silver jail cells. Instead of being built into the wall, they were in the center of an anteroom, several feet from any wall, and were three isolated cells with sides, roof, and floor made of flat silver bars.

Duo reluctantly held out his wrists when Wufei withdrew a pair of silver handcuffs.

He grit his teeth against the sudden, burning pain of the cuffs against his skin. A heartbeat later he felt Trowa reaching out to him, angry and anxious at the sudden pain from Duo.

While part of him was happy to know that their bond worked over distance, another part wished it didn't. He had no idea how to comfort Trowa, or even to tell him not to worry. He tried to send back his feelings of confidence and frustration – it wouldn't help anyone for Trowa to rush back to the FBI headquarters.

After a moment he felt Trowa reach back to him, and the warm wash of golden magic did little to alleviate the pain from the handcuffs, but it at least put Duo at ease.

He stepped into the cell and sat down on the plastic stool in the middle of the cell.

"I'm sorry about this," Wufei said, his dark gaze briefly meeting Duo's.

"Thanks for not giving me up so easily," Duo responded.

Wufei sneered.

"That arrogant bastard is responsible for his servant's death. If he hadn't been so full of himself then she would still be alive. I cannot tolerate such mindless self-centered arrogance."

Duo snorted. "You think he's bad? You should meet Treize."

"I plan to," Wufei said. With that cryptic promise he left Duo alone.

He wasn't sure how long he was in the cell before Hilde came back.

"Hey," she said, sounding incredibly depressed. He could feel her disappointment and anger.

"Hey yourself," he responded and tried to sound upbeat. A difficult task with the silver cuffs feeling like they were eating into his bones.

"I don't have a lot of time – we just got a call about a group of shape shifters who were attacked – but I wanted to see how you were doing."

"Attacked how?" Duo asked, standing up and reaching for the bars before he remembered what they were made of. He backed away.

"That's the weird part – it sounds like they were attacking each other. We got the 911 call patched through to us, and it sounds like a group of them were together and half of them suddenly transformed into animals and started to attack the others." She shook her head. "But they wouldn't be able to do that unless one of them was an alpha, right? Or –"

"Or if they were being magically controlled. Solo. Damnit, Hilde, you've got to let me out of here!"

"I can't, Duo. If I do the Council will execute you – they won't even need a trial. You have to stay here, it's safe."

"Safe – what about you! You can't just walk into some massacre that Solo –"

"Might be responsible for," Hilde interrupted. "We don't know anything yet." She sighed. "As soon as I get there I'll reach out to you, okay?"

Duo glared at her.

"It's the best I can do! This is my job, Duo."

He sighed. "Be careful."

"I will. I'm not you after all." She carefully reached through the bars and grasped his hand.

He squeezed it back, appreciating the human contact.

"I have to go," she said after a moment and pulled free.

He watched her leave and then sat back down on his stool, resigned to while away the hours by ignoring the burning of his wrists and instead counting the ceiling tiles.

Time passed – enough that Duo was sure it was at least late afternoon – and he had moved on from counting the ceiling tiles, 1, 267, to counting the divots in the concrete floor.

Quite suddenly the lights went out.

Duo stood up and reached out, but he could feel nothing.

A moment later, however, he was slammed back against the side of the jail cell by a wall of magic.

Stunned, he fell down and then gasped in pain when the back of his head came in contact with the silver bars. He scrambled to his feet.

The magic rushed at him again, knocking him back once again, but this time the entire cell fell over.

The tidal wave of magic slowly subsided. Dust filled the air, and Duo could see that his cell wasn't the only thing that had been affected. The other two cells were twisted lumps of silver bars that looked like strange imitations of post-modern art.

"Duo, it's been too long."

Solo strode through the cloud of dust and stopped in front of Duo's jail cell.

It was as if the last four hundred years had never passed. Solo's long, dark golden hair was loose about his shoulders. Solid black trousers and shirt were a stark contrast to his features. Solo's pale skin and dark blue eyes were mesmerizing even without the magic that made them glow an almost electric blue, and Duo found himself lost in that cold stare.

"Solo." Duo's voice broke, and the other man sneered.

"Just look at the mess you're in." Solo made a tsking sound and shook his head slowly. "You've been a very, very bad boy."

Duo swallowed hard. He remembered that tone of voice – remembered that phrase. Solo had always taunted the magic users they captured. Before, Duo had been mildly disturbed by the pleasure Solo seemed to take in making his victims squirm in fear. Now, on the receiving end of that magnetic glare and whispered words, he was damn near terrified.

"And you're going to punish me?" Duo sneered.

Solo looked amused.

"I thought we might grab a cup of coffee first."


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Eighteen

To say that having coffee with Solo was a surreal experience would be like saying that sex with Trowa and Heero was pleasant.

Solo had a car and had insisted on driving them to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf – because he hated Starbucks. Solo had a car and he had opinions on corporate coffee. Duo couldn't wrap his mind around it.

He had ordered a small, regular coffee while Solo had ordered a very large, very complicated sounding drink. While they waited on their orders, Solo made small talk about the weather and casually flirted with the guy making his drink.

By the time they sat down at a table in the back of the coffee shop Duo was convinced that they had entered some alternate dimension. Or that he was dead.

"So," Solo said after taking a sip of his ridiculous looking drink, "what have you been up to for the last four hundred years?"

Duo blinked.

"Um…"

"Relax, Duo, I'm not going to murder you in front of all of these humans," Solo swept out a hand to encompass the coffee house.

"But you are planning on murdering me?" Duo tried to confirm.

Solo smirked.

"As I was said before, you've been very bad – you've got Treize and nearly the entire Council ready to execute you, you've got the shape shifters in the region agitating to kill you, and you've forgotten your vow to serve God and keep humans safe from the monsters."

Duo closed his eyes. That last was by far the most damning, and he knew that Solo held it against him that he had agreed to serve the Council.

"Not to mention you've managed to find yourself a Soul Mate," Solo added with a sneer.

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"Jealous?"

"Jealous of the fact that you have found another soul to bond with? Jealous of the fact that you've been free and wandering the Earth for the last four hundred years while I suffered in a silver coffin, forgotten by all? Jealous of you?" Solo shook his head. "I'm not jealous of you, I'm jealous of your lover. Jealous that he shares your bed and your heart when it is my right to do so. I thought you knew me better than that, Duo."

"I knew you," Duo agreed. "Four hundred years ago, but then you shut me out. You destroyed our connection – you abandoned me!"

"I abandoned you? Am I the one who gave in to those torturous bastards? Am I the one who sold my soul, sold my God to those creatures?"

"No, I did that," Duo quietly agreed. "I thought I was protecting you, and it's my fault that I was naïve enough to think that the Council had any honor, that they would release you. But I did my best, as your servant, to preserve your life. And I am one of those creatures."

"No, you aren't." Solo reached out a hand and ran it over Duo's cheek.

It was the first time Solo had touched him in half a millennium, but the palm of his hand felt exactly as Duo remembered it.

"You know I had my first taste of coffee the day I found you," Solo said. "In Jerusalem. It was nothing like this, mind you. I suppose that's fitting, hm?"

"Just do it, Solo," Duo whispered. "Just kill me. I can't sit here and play whatever game it is we're playing. Just – end it. Please."

Solo arched an eyebrow.

"I haven't finished my coffee yet – and neither have you. Besides, I asked you a question and you never answered it."

Duo sighed.

"What – what question?"

"What have you been up to for the last four hundred years? Aside from serving our enemies and turning your back on our faith. Those I'm already familiar with."

Duo remained silent.

"Tell me about your Soul Mate. I have to say, he feels incredible. His magic is very pure and very warm – like sunshine, isn't it?"

"You felt him?"

"Through you. I tried to sever our connection completely, but some thread of it must have remained. All these years I've felt faint flickers of your presence but it wasn't until recently that I felt him. How did you meet?"

Duo scowled.

"A mutual friend."

"Hm. And what is he? His magic is very different."

"He's a Gypsy."

"Ah! That explains why he's so different. He's also very powerful."

Duo sighed. "He's also a shape shifter."

Solo's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"He's a what?" His voice was barely audible, but the rage behind his question sent shivers down Duo's spine.

"He's a shape shifter – a lion – and the son of a lion god. He's an alpha, obviously. So… that's where the powerful part comes in."

"You allowed a shape shifter to… you are not the man I remember." Solo shoved his coffee away and stood. "Come." He turned and started to walk away.

Duo reluctantly rose and followed him from the coffee store and back into the car. He was quite convinced that Solo would make short work of killing him.

"Why?" Solo asked.

"Why what?"

"Why him?"

"He's my Soul Mate. I didn't exactly have a choice now, did I?" Duo sneered.

Solo started to drive, heading to the north of the city. The sun was setting, sending bright rays of fiery light into the sky, and Duo thought it was a nice metaphor for his own impending death.

"You did," Solo insisted. "You could have chosen not to ever touch him."

"No, I couldn't have. He's… fuck, Solo, he's my Soul Mate! All I want to do is touch him! I don't care that he's a shape shifter!"

"I see."

Solo fell silent, and Duo didn't want to provoke him any further, but if he was being driven to the site of his execution, there were a few things he wanted to know first.

"Why are you killing women, Solo?"

The golden haired man sneered, but his gaze stayed focused on the road.

"Solo, what happened to your vow? In Avignon, you swore to never again take the life of someone too weak to defend themselves. You swore to me that you would never do this again."

It had been only a few months before their eventual capture by the Old Council, and Solo and Duo had been the last left of their brotherhood. Those days had been dark and tense, and Solo's hobby of killing prostitutes had become more of an obsession. When Duo had discovered his master in the process of murdering a twelve year old girl he had intervened. Solo had promised him, before God, never to give in to those dark urges again.

"Solo?" He prompted now.

There was no answer, and with a sigh he looked out the passenger side window.

It was completely dark now, the road illuminated only by sparse streetlights and silver moonlight, but Duo could easily recognize the desert near Red Rock, where he had gone hiking with Trowa, and where he had torched the corpse of the assassin sent to kill him.

Solo pulled over once the glow of the Strip had faded and parked the car in the rough desert sand. He got out, slamming his door behind him, and Duo slowly followed suit.

Solo was pacing in the dark. The dim moonlight glinted off his hair and shone on his pale skin.

Duo sat on the hood of the car and waited.

"You believed in me," Solo said after a few minutes of tense silence. He stopped pacing and stood in front of Duo, his magnetic blue gaze locked onto Duo's.

Duo frowned.

"I don't understand."

"Before, you always believed in me. You would have followed me into the bowels of hell."

"I still would," Duo reluctantly admitted with a sigh. "You're my master. Whatever else – I will follow you."

"Hm. But you don't believe I'm right, not anymore."

"Do you?" Duo asked. "Do you believe that it's right to take the lives of women whose only sin might have been to sell their bodies? Do you really think that deserves a death warrant? Do you think that we are in any place to judge anyone else? Our hands are stained, Solo, so red with blood that they will never be clean."

"You've never believed in God," Solo sighed. "That's your problem. Even when you were studying at the church, you only ever believed in death, never God, never salvation."

"Yeah, well, death's the one thing that's never let me down, now, has it?" Duo asked. "You're right – I didn't ever believe in God or anything like that, but I believed in you. Your faith was incredible, and I wanted to follow you, to serve you as you protected the innocent – the flock, right?"

Solo nodded.

Duo shrugged. "But that was four hundred years ago, Solo. Things have changed since then. Not just me – not just you. The whole world is a different place now. And I'm not sure we have the right to pass judgment on the humans or magic users. The flock has gotten a lot better at defending themselves."

"You've completely lost your way, haven't you?" Solo reached out with both hands and cradled Duo's face. "No wonder you've been so miserable all of this time. Without me around you've only been able to wallow in the misery of the world. There was no one to show you the path of righteousness, of light."

Duo found himself leaning into Solo's touch. Solo leaned down and pressed his lips briefly to Duo's forehead.

"I never thought I'd be able to touch you again," Duo said. "I thought – Solo, you're right. Without you I didn't have anyone to show me a path, so I made my own. It's not the one we started on, but… it's my path now. If this is where it ends, so be it."

Solo sighed and dropped his hands back to his sides.

"So fatalistic. I'm frankly shocked that you haven't killed yourself yet."

"You kept me going," Duo admitted, "for the longest time. Every Saint's Day I tried to summon you. I wanted to see your face just one last time – to beg for your forgiveness. I needed that, before I could die."

Solo arched an eyebrow.

"Well?" Solo prompted.

Duo swallowed hard.

"I tried to save you Solo, but I was too weak and naïve to know what would happen. Because of me, my stupidity – my lack of faith, yes, that too – you've spent the last four hundred years locked in a coffin and I've lived without a heart. I can never forgive myself for that, and I don't actually expect you to. You have every right to punish me."

"You were going to tell my ghost to punish you?" Solo asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

"No," Duo growled.

"Hm." Solo walked away and stood looking out into the desert, his back to Duo.

"Your shape shifter – would you die for him?"

Duo frowned, even though Solo couldn't see him.

"Yes," he answered.

"And your servant? That witch?"

"Yes."

"What about that null?"

Duo swallowed hard. He had no idea how Solo knew about Heero.

"Yes, of course."

"Of course?" Solo turned around. "I'm amazed that you would so freely give your life for a null, a witch, and a pet. In days past you put much more value on your own survival."

"Things have changed, Solo."

"I'm getting that." Solo approached him again and sat on the car beside Duo. "What is it you think I'm going to do to you?"

"Kill me? Maybe torture me a little first? I'm not sure if you will be able to absorb my magic like you do with Ephemerals – I'm not human, so there's a good chance that when I die my magic will just dissipate back into the earth."

"And why am I going to kill you?"

"I failed you and I… I did abandon you, your path, your faith. When I thought you died, when you cut our connection – I turned my back on all of that."

Solo nodded.

"So I'm guessing Treize never told you that I've been searching for you ever since he released me so that I could restore our connection and that I threatened to kill him if he harmed you?"

Duo blinked and looked over at his master.

"Ah… no. Sort of the exact opposite, actually. He told me that he released you because you promised to help him fight the new legislation and in return he would give me to you to punish."

Solo nodded. "Treize always twists the truth to suit his own purposes. He did promise me that he would return you to me. But it wasn't so that I could punish you. I made it very clear that I would help him, and then you and I would get the hell away from him and his damn Council."

"What?" This was the polar opposite of the information that Duo had been operating under. "But you – you hate me. That was the last thing I felt from you, before you cut me off. I could feel your rage, your loathing."

"I did," Solo confessed. "But I've had four hundred years with nothing but my own thoughts. I know that you tried to save me. Duo, you loved me more than life itself. I knew that – I know that. Why would I ever want that to change?"

Duo frowned.

"And yet it has, hm?" Solo reached out again and ran his hand through Duo's hair. "For the last four hundred years you've lived under the assumption that I hated you so much that my spirit had the strength to deny your Summoning. I can only imagine how painful that has been for you."

"Not as painful as being locked in a silver coffin," Duo muttered.

"No," Solo agreed. He brushed Duo's bangs back. "Duo, God led me to you one thousand years ago and I knew, from that moment, that my life's work was to protect you and love you. You've been my brother, my partner, my lover. We exist as two faces of the same coin, Duo. We always have, and we always will."

"I don't know what you're saying."

"I'm not going to kill you, Duo. Even if I did want to, I couldn't. You're mine, but you aren't mine to kill."

Duo breathed a sigh of relief.

"So…"

"But you are mine," Solo repeated. "You bound yourself to me and you agreed to serve my will until death parted us."

Duo swallowed hard. He had a very bad feeling about this.

"This Council must be destroyed, Duo. This Council and the Old Council. The humans have no idea the mistake they have made. It is our duty to end this sham of justice and to eliminate this threat to the continued survival of God's children."

"Solo –"

"You will serve me in this, Duo. For four hundred years I have been imprisoned. I returned to a world that is riddled with violence and grief. If magic truly could improve the lives of humans why hasn't it? The Council must be destroyed. We will have our vengeance, Duo."

"It's not that simple, Solo. There are laws and – "

"The laws of criminals are not just," Solo insisted. He shook his head. "I understand that you are afraid."

"I'm not afraid!" Duo insisted. "Fighting the Council is going to get us killed, no doubt about it, but I'm not afraid to die. Solo, this is madness! Things don't work this way anymore! This is no crusade!"

"Are you refusing to serve me?" Solo asked, his voice cold and deadly.

"No," Duo breathed. "Solo, we cannot do this. We will be hunted down not only by magic users, but by humans. You've broken their laws too. Those women you killed – Solo, why?"

Solo shook his head.

"No. You will not turn this on me, Duo. I'm not the one –"

"Solo, they were innocent women. They were weak and they had done nothing wrong. You stole their lives and their magic. You broke your vow to me and you broke your vow to God. You protected no one by killing them."

Solo swallowed hard and looked away.

"You are not the man you once were, Solo. All this time… Solo, you've been tortured for four hundred years. I think you are letting that cloud your judgment."

"You think?" Solo hissed. "That is my judgment. Revenge on those who first harmed us. Duo, no one should have the power that they do. No one should be able to take away four hundred years!"

"I know," Duo agreed.

"They took you from me! I can see it in your eyes, you've… you've moved on. With your null and your pet. I've been left behind."

"Solo, I don't–"

"Don't you dare lie to me, Duo. Your love for me has faded."

"No, it hasn't," Duo argued. "And fuck it all, I wish it had! But I would be lying if I said that I didn't still love you. I always will, Solo. You're right. We are two sides of the same coin, and I've been without half of myself all of this time. But Solo, things have changed. We do not belong in this world, not anymore. The humans don't need warriors like us anymore. They've got new shepherds." He thought of Quatre and his desire to make the world better without resorting to violence. He didn't agree with Quatre all of the time – rarely even half the time – but he knew that the Arbiter was right. Quatre was what the humans needed. "We will only make things worse, for everyone. We're broken, Solo, you and me, and we can't fix them like we are now."

Solo frowned.

"What are you suggesting?"

"This is it, Solo. This is the end for us. You murdered innocent women, and I've… God, I've killed so many people in service of this Council. I've done so many things… it needs to end, Solo. It has to. But I don't have any idea how. We can't kill the entire Council. We can't," he repeated when Solo started to speak. "There are good people on that Council. Quatre, Sally, hell, even Sylvia."

"Treize?"

"He has to be stopped, Solo. I think he's trying to create a big enough, messy enough conflict that the humans will have to intervene and they'll realize just how wrong they were to make magic legal."

"They were," Solo muttered.

"No, they weren't," Duo argued. "We have to move forward. Progress is good, and this is progress. I can't let Treize ruin this."

"You can't?"

Duo frowned. "Solo you are still my master, and I follow the Old Ways. I will obey you – but I'm not your slave."

Solo snorted a laugh.

"You've never been my slave. I swear, Duo, if we hadn't bonded when we had, I'm not sure if I wouldn't be your servant. What happens to me?In this new world of yours"

"What?"

"After you kill Treize, what happens to me?"

Duo sighed and met Solo's gaze.

"Justice," he said.

"Justice? Shall I be executed for killing seventeen women when both of us have killed hundreds? We've killed children, Duo. They were shape shifters, they were animals, but the humans won't understand that. You don't seem to understand that anymore. What justice is there for a man who has done what I have? What justice is there after four hundred years in a coffin?"

"Solo –"

"No, Duo. There is no justice. God has turned his back on me, Duo. My faith…" he shook his head. "I am unworthy to serve him, but I am too selfish to simply die. I want those years back. I want you back."

Solo leaned forward and kissed Duo, his lips firm and forceful.

Duo found himself instantly responding to the sensations. He felt like a man who had been wandering in the desert searching for water – and at last, here was an oasis. He reached out and buried his hands in Solo's hair, relishing the weight and texture of it.

Solo pressed him back so that he was laying on the hood of the car and covered Duo's body with his own. Their tongues dueled for control of the kiss and Duo moaned in pleasure when Solo's hands found their way under his shirt and caressed his bare skin. He tugged Solo's shirt out of his pants and reached under the hem to knead Solo's back and ass. The other man groaned and thrust his hips against Duo's, straining for more contact.

"I've missed you so much," Solo said. He pulled away and looked down at Duo. "Look at you. So perfect. So beautiful." He kissed Duo again, but the intensity of their previous kiss was gone. This kiss very nearly felt like a goodbye, and Duo found himself following Solo as he tried to pull away.

"You still haven't answered my question." Solo said. He sat back and ran a hand through his disheveled hair.

Duo frowned and sat up as well.

"Which question?"

"What you've been doing, for the last four hundred years. I want to know."

"Like a blow by blow account?"

"Just the highlights," Solo said. He leaned back so that his back and neck were curved against the windshield.

After a moment Duo did the same.

"I became the Old Council's Executioner," he started.

"I know that part. I don't – tell me what I missed."

Duo let out a sigh.

"God, Solo, you missed so fucking much." He gave a bitter laugh and was ashamed to feel tears burn at his eyes. "Music, Solo. I'm telling you – music is the single greatest achievement of the humans. Bach, Rachmaninov - Queen!"

The next few hours passed too quickly for Duo. He gave Solo a history lesson in music, art, food, and technology – all of the things that had long fascinated both men – and the more he told Solo, the more he remembered, and the more he realized just how much Solo meant to him.

Experiencing those things the first time around, hearing Beethoven for the first time, learning how to waltz, trying Spam – he had desperately wished to have Solo at his side then. Now, hearing Solo's baritone chuckle at his stories, he wanted nothing more than to give Solo back that time.

"Son of a bitch!" Duo had a sudden sensation of the skin on his back being ripped open. It felt as though he was being lashed with a silver whip. The sensation came again, forceful enough that Duo curled into a ball, struggling against it..

"Duo?" Solo moved down beside him. "What is it?"

"Argh!" Duo gritted his teeth against the pain. It took him a moment to focus, but since it was clear that he wasn't actually experiencing physical pain, Trowa had to be.

"Duo!" Solo grabbed his shoulders and Duo felt the other man's cold, silver magic flow into him. The pain dimmed.

"It's Trowa. My Soul Mate. He's being tortured." Duo tried to reach out to him, but whatever Solo had done made it a little difficult to send his magic down the line to Trowa.

Solo scowled.

"By who?"

"Treize. He belongs to him."

"Duo, you are – " Solo cut himself off and jumped off the hood of the car.

"Give me your hand and I will renew our bond."

Duo's hands instantly clenched into fists by his sides. Solo arched an eyebrow.

"Well?" He prompted. "If you want to help him, if you want us to kill Treize, we should do this the right way."

The prospect of having their bond opened again filled Duo with dread. It was ironic that he had wished for nothing but the feel of his master's body and magic for four hundred years. But now that he was confronted with the possibility he was unable to take it.

It felt like a betrayal of Heero and Trowa. But hesitating felt like a betrayal of Solo.

"I can't," he finally decided. "I can't do that again."

Solo frowned.

"Why?"

"I'm not yours anymore," he finally admitted, and all of the plans he had tenuously made to show Solo everything that he had missed evaporated. The real world replaced his dreams and he forced himself to think logically. There was no future for them, no way that the two of them could exist as they had before.

"I know," Solo agreed. "You belong to them. The null and the pet."

"Please, stop calling him that," Duo asked. "And they belong to me, too. I can't just turn my back on that."

Solo arched an eyebrow.

"But you can turn your back on me?"

"Solo, no, I'm not –"

The other man kissed him again and Duo responded almost against his will.

"You can't even resist this," Solo pointed out. He pressed his lips against the pulse in Duo's throat. "What makes you think I need your permission to restore our bond?" He whispered against Duo's skin. "You aren't just mine anymore, but you will always be mine, Duo." He pulled away.

"Let's go save your pet."


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Nineteen

Duo found himself cursing the traffic in Las Vegas. He and Solo had made excellent time driving through the desert, but as soon as they got back on the main drag near downtown, traffic had slowed to a complete crawl.

He could feel Trowa being tortured, and whatever Solo had done to him to numb his connection had faded, and Duo could acutely feel the sensation of Trowa's flesh being ripped from his bones. He tried to reach out to him, but his magic was rubbish at healing and he could do little but send soothing thoughts to Trowa and assure him that help was on the way.

"How is he in bed?" Solo asked suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Duo turned to him in confusion.

"Your pet. I'm sorry, Trowa. How is he in bed?"

"Why –"

"And the null? I assume you're fucking him, too? What about your servant? That girl? You always did like to mix things up."

"What does it matter?"

Solo shrugged one shoulder.

"I'd just like to know what I'm getting involved with. After all, I'm putting my life – and your life – on the line to save some animal. I hope he has some uses."

"He is not an animal," Duo growled.

Solo made a hmm noise.

"What bothers you more – that he's a shape shifter or that he, and not you, is my Soul Mate?" Duo asked.

"Tough to say," Solo admitted. "I do see a pattern here, though. I was tortured by Treize, now he's being tortured by Treize… are you going to forget about him for four hundred years too?"

"I didn't forget about you!" Duo argued. "I thought about you every damn day!"

"But you don't want to renew our bond."

"I can't, Solo."

"You won't," he corrected. "You've known this animal for how long? And the null – you can't have known him for very long either, considering his age."

Duo sighed.

"There's a lot you don't understand, especially about Heero – the null. And my relationship with him, and with Trowa – yes, it's new, but I'm not just going to turn my back on them."

"But you will turn your back on me."

"Damnit, Solo! I have no fucking clue what to do in the situation! You're a damn serial killer, I'm wanted for murder, my Soul Mate is being tortured, and Treize is an evil psychopath who wants all of us dead. At the moment, can we shelve the relationship discussions?"

Solo's lips twitched.

"Feel better now?"

Duo sighed.

"Yes," he admitted after a moment of sulking.

"So how is he?" Solo repeated.

Duo glared.

"I'm just making conversation. Surely you can indulge my curiosity. After all, I haven't been laid in over four hundred years."

"He's fucking amazing, okay? Because of our bond we feel everything together, and it's incredible – but even without that it would be great. His body is amazing, and whenever he touches me – it honestly feels like nirvana."

Solo's jaw looked tense, but Duo continued.

"And the null? Heero? Sex with him is always so incredibly intense. He –"

"Okay, forget I asked."

"I was just –"

"Forget it."

Duo sighed.

"They aren't you, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? Solo, you know me better than I know me – sex with you... we had six hundred years together! Of course this doesn't compare."

"Yet you're choosing them."

"I'm choosing to focus on not getting killed in the next two hours," Duo shouted.

A strained silence fell between them.

When they arrived at the Mandalay Bay parking deck Duo asked to borrow Solo's cell phone.

He texted Heero, so he would know who was calling, and then called him.

"I'm not dead," he said when Heero answered.

"Are you safe?" Heero asked.

"No more or less than usual. Listen, Solo and I are at the parking deck at Mandalay Bay."

"Solo?"

"Long story – just, he doesn't want to kill me."

"Are you sure?"

"Fairly sure, yes."

"What about Trowa and me?" Heero pressed.

"Funny you should ask… that needs to be a discussion for another time because Treize has been torturing Trowa for the last half hour."

Heero cursed.

"Yeah, so… we need to move up our timetable for killing Treize to right about now."

"I'm already in position inside the tower."

"Really?"

"I'm in the back stairwell. I've tapped into the surveillance setup – there's hardly any cameras up there. One in a living room, I've seen minimal activity."

"Who?"

"Zechs, Noin, a few I don't recognize."

"Right. Well, when you see me on that camera you should probably, you know, do something."

"Be careful."

"Me? I like to live dangerously."

"I know," Heero growled.

Duo hung up the phone and dialed Hilde's number.

"Hello?" She answered cautiously.

"It's Duo."

"Where are you? Are you hurt? What happened? The holding cells are – "

"Long story, and we don't have time right now. Look, you might want to gather up some friends and put in an appearance at the Council headquarters in say… an hour."

"Why?"

"Let's just say that Chang might have some paperwork to do after tonight."

"Duo –"

"Gotta run."

He hung up over her protests and then gave the phone back to Solo.

"Duo. I'm sorry, but we're going to do this my way."

Solo grasped Duo's face between his hands.

"Solo –" Duo tried to pull away, but the Ephemeral's grip was strong.

"I'm not letting you rush into this like you always do. You don't want to trust me, I understand that, but you have to. I'm not letting you go again."

"Don't do this, Solo," Duo pleaded, hating himself for sounding weak. The truth was, however, that he was terrified of Solo renewing their bond – terrified because he wanted it so badly. He wanted Solo back, alive and with him, so badly it was a gnawing hunger inside of him. But his desire warred with the overwhelming sense that it was wrong, that they would never again be as they had been, and that this could only end in disaster.

"I lost four hundred years, Duo. I'm not losing anything else."

When Solo kissed him Duo tried to fight it, but as he felt the warm, electric tingle of Solo's magic start to flow into him he surrendered. Magic flooded through him, filling him with heat and excitement.

After a few moments, Solo pulled away, released Duo, and stepped backwards.

Even though they were no longer touching, Duo could feel Solo's magic, could actually taste his heartbeat in his mouth. It was wonderfully exhilarating and completely unique from his connection with Hilde or Trowa.

He hated how good it felt.

"It had to be done," Solo said. "And, here, you're going to need this."

He opened his trunk and pulled out a black bundle. He tossed it to Duo.

Duo cautiously pulled away the black fabric to reveal a sword and sheath designed to be strapped across his back, just like the one he had used, long ago, when he and Solo had hunted together.

He pulled out the blade, testing its weight. It felt like pure silver and it sent a thrill of anticipation through him. He resheathed it and then took off his shirt and strap it on.

After he pulled his shirt back on and flipped his braid back to cover the bulge, Solo nodded approvingly.

"Okay, now let's go save your pet," Solo said.

They got out of the car, and Duo couldn't help the thrill of anticipation he felt. It had been centuries since he and Solo had teamed up, and he thought back on all of the times they had fought together. Yes, he was definitely looking forward to this.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they arrived at the penthouse suite all hell immediately broke loose.

As soon as the doors opened they were met by half a dozen vampires.

With a wave of his hand, Duo crippled them, sending such intense pain sensations to their brains that they dropped to their knees and howled in pain.

Solo followed up Duo's attack with one of his own, evaporating the blood in the vampires veins and leaving them little more than corpses.

"You can't do that," Duo hissed at him.

Solo scowled. His blue eyes had gotten that electric glow again that always developed when he used magic.

"Why the hell not? They want to kill us."

"There are laws protecting them – and we're on the other side of those laws."

"Then it doesn't really matter, does it?" Solo pointed out.

"It does," Duo insisted.

He stepped over the bodies.

"So you're saying I'm not allowed to kill Treize either?" Solo demanded.

"No, him, do your worst. But the rest –" Duo stopped talking when the elevator doors opened again to reveal Catharine, Martha, Ralph, and two other shape shifters.

Solo sneered at them.

"Wait," Duo said and put a hand on Solo's arm.

"You!" Catharine shouted and charged at Duo.

"For the love of God, what now?" Duo demanded. He sidestepped her lunge.

"You are responsible for this!" She spun around, a gun in her hand aimed steadily at Duo's heart.

"Take it easy, Catharine, responsible for what?" He put his hands out in a placating manner and stepped back from her. Solo eased up beside him.

"For Trowa! He's being tortured!"

"But not by me," Duo pointed out. He tried to sound soothing, but he could practically feel Catharine's fury burning into his skin.

"It's still your fault! All of this is your fault!"

"Am I allowed to kill her?" Solo asked in a stage whisper.

Catharine's angry gaze turned to him.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"Solo Maxwell," he said with a grin and a courtly bow. "Perhaps you've heard of me?"

From the way her face went pale it was clear that she had.

"No, you aren't," Duo told him.

"She's pointing a gun at you, Duo. I'm assuming you think she's intelligent enough to load it with silver bullets."

"Yeah. And pissed enough. She's Trowa's sister."

"Oh. Your pet has a sister?" Solo turned wide, amused eyes back to Catharine. "How amusing."

"My brother is not a pet! And he doesn't – why did he say your pet?"

Duo closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Why is this happening right now?"He muttered to himself. He opened his eyes and looked back at Catharine. "It's complicated, okay? Now, will you just lower the gun and let me go in there and –" Duo started to ease towards the door.

"I won't let you hurt him again!"

Catharine pulled the trigger, and a split second later Duo found himself face-down on the floor, Solo's body covering his.

He drew in a deep breath but, aside from the weight of Solo's body protecting his own, he felt no pain.

"Fucking hell, Catharine!" He pushed back against Solo. "I'm fine, move." Solo remained a still, heavy weight against his back. "Solo, get up! I'm fine!"

He rolled over and pushed back at the same time, so that he was free of Solo. He frowned when the other man still didn't react.

"Solo?"

The blonde man suddenly gasped for air and his blue eyes locked onto Duo's.

"Solo!"

Duo rolled him over and he suddenly felt a sharp, burning pain in his own side, near his heart.

"No, no, no."

Duo frantically pulled away Solo's jacket and black shirt, ripping it open to reveal the bullet hole and steady flow of blood.

"Oh Jesus, fuck, no!" Duo pressed his hands against the wound, trying to keep the blood from pumping out. "Solo, don't you dare do this to me! You fucking bastard! Don't you dare die on me now!"

Duo didn't even realize he was crying until Solo reached up and brushed away his tears.

"Sorry, Duo. This… wasn't quite… what I had… planned."

"Solo, do –"

"I'm sorry, Duo." The electric light in Solo's eyes started to fade, and his head fell back, limp, against Duo's chest.

He cradled the still body against him for a moment, completely in shock. Just moments before they had renewed their bond and now – NOW Solo was well and truly dead.

Duo looked up to see that Catharine and the shape shifters had gathered together and were regarding him warily. The gun was loose in Catharine's grip.

With a wave of his hand every single one of them stumbled backwards and clutched at their throats, gasping for the air he cut off from their lungs.

"I waited four hundred years to have him back in my arms, you crazy bitch," he spat at Catharine as he stood. "And now he's dead! I'm going to destroy you!" He directed all of his pain and agony at her and she tried to scream, but with no oxygen in her lungs it came out as silent, painful choking.

He next struck at her nerve endings, sending pain burning through her body to her brain. She shook from the force of his wrath.

"He was mine and you took him from me!" He prepared to kill her, summoning enough magic to force her heart to explode in her chest, but as he reached out to do so he felt a nearly crippling wave of pain.

Duo staggered under the sensation, losing his concentration enough that he lost his hold on the shape shifters. They fell to the floor, sucking in huge breaths of air.

The pain rippled through him again and Duo fell to his knees. What – Trowa.

"God damnit!" He struggled back to his feet. He had completely forgotten about his Soul Mate.

He stormed into the Council hall, summoning as much magic as he could as he did, determined to make this end quickly and violently.

Duo wasn't surprised to see Treize seated on his throne or Trowa kneeling in the black ring with Meilin, whip in hand, standing over him.

He was surprised to see Noin, Zechs, Urshanabi, and Sylvia all occupying their thrones, flanked by their servants.

"Well, well, haven't we gotten predictable?" Treize said.

Duo frowned. He tried to focus on Treize and not on the sight of his lover, his naked back covered in blood.

"And haven't you gotten complacent?" Duo shot back. "Your pathetic army of vampires was hardly a distraction. And it didn't keep me away from Trowa for long, did it?"

Treize turned piercing eyes to Duo. "Which begs the question, just how did you know he was being tortured in the first place? And why do you even care?"

Duo scowled.

"Let me see… perhaps his pack informed you? No, I don't think so since Catharine would rather eat you than talk to you… perhaps you've been infected? Should we expect you to go all furry once a month, now?"

Duo sneered.

"No… then, let me think, you must have made him your servant. A clever tactic, especially for you. Taking my pet and bonding him to yourself. Quite devious."

"Thank you," Duo said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like him back."

Treize sneered. "Oh, but I mind very much. You see, he belongs to me."

"Well, as you just pointed out… he kind of belongs to me now too." Duo smirked. "I know, why don't we let him decide who he wants to belong to?"

Treize's blue eyes narrowed.

"His preferences hardly matter. Especially since you are about to be executed for your crimes."

"Really?" Duo asked. He crossed his arms and tried to look casual. He noticed, however, that Noin and Zechs both looked tense. Sylvia and Urshanabi seemed to be indifferent to the proceedings. Duo hoped they stayed that way. "What crimes would those be? Out of curiosity."

"I fear we lost count of the number of murders you have committed, so we are just going to say 'several counts' – since even one is enough for the humans to order your execution."

"And have they? Has the Arbiter agreed to my execution?"

Treize sneered.

"I do not need HIS approval to carry out Council justice."

Duo looked past Treize to Zechs and Noin.

"You realize that if you follow Treize down this path, allow him to ignore human laws – and an Old Council proclamation that you will have both the United States and Jason ready to slaughter you."

"Unlike you, Executioner, they understand the concept of loyalty. They have both sworn oaths to me. Not to the Arbiter, not to Jason."

Duo frowned and looked over at Sylvia. She was always so level-headed. He was surprised that she was willing to go along with this. And Urshanabi was a master of self-preservation – why was he here?

She arched an eyebrow at him, as if offering Duo a challenge. Perhaps she wanted him dead as revenge for her father? Did she really want to jeopardize her life for that? And what about her desire for change – suddenly he realized. She was not on Treize's side. She was here because this was the moment that would change the future of Old Ones in the United States.

He turned away from her and looked back at Treize.

"How do you plan to deal with the humans? And Jason?"

"The humans will get exactly what they deserve. It was their hubris that brought us to this point in the first place, and now they will be punished. When they realize that we are truly above them, and they can do nothing to stop us. The legislation will be repealed, and we can return to our former glory."

Duo scowled.

"Hiding, you mean. They will hunt us down, they will kill us."

"They can try," Treize said with a shrug.

"And Jason – how do you plan on getting around his wrath?"

"There are ways."

Duo frowned. He didn't like how blasé Treize was about Jason's vengeance. It wasn't as if Treize had ever been Jason's biggest fan, but this kind of outright disregard was new.

"My only real concern was your master. But, correct me if I'm wrong… I don't feel his magical signature anymore? He was here with you, what… ah. I see." Treize smirked as Duo went pale. "Such irony. A shame too – you'll finally be able to Summon him but both of you will be dead."

Duo charged at Treize without conscious thought and the force of his attack toppled Treize's throne, sending both of them sprawling onto the marble floor behind the raised dais.

He rose to his feet before Treize and sent a wave of pain in the vampire's direction, momentarily stunning him.

Duo took the opportunity to shove Meilin out of the circle, away from Trowa.

The shape shifter's wrists were tied together with silver chain, and Duo quickly yanked the chains off, freeing Trowa and only minimally burning his own skin in the process.

"Duo –"

"Now is not the time to talk," he hissed at him.

Trowa's green eyes narrowed.

"My sister, I felt –"

"She's perfectly fucking fine," Duo assured him.

Trowa reached out and touched him, grabbing his wrist in a loose grip that nevertheless sent a wave of intense, golden magic flooding through Duo. It healed the minor burns on his fingers and filled him with a renewed sense of purpose. He could feel the magic traveling back into Trowa, healing his back so quickly it defied belief.

"Well, that is certainly unexpected."

Duo turned to see Treize back on his feet, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, and regarding the two of them with interest.

"I can't do that with my servants."

"Maybe mine just like me better," Duo suggested. He pulled free of Trowa. "Or maybe I'm just better than you."

"Hardly. And in any case, MY servants are ever so much more helpful. Zechs, dispose of him." Treize waved a hand in the direction of the golden haired Light Faery.

Duo turned his attention on the other man. He had known that the other man would get involved, but he had been hoping to have Solo with him. Duo didn't think he could take on both Zechs and Treize – and if Zechs was involved in a fight, chances were that Noin would follow closely behind. And he had no idea what kind of fighter Trowa was.

"I want your promise that Trowa can walk away from this," Duo said, moving not towards Zechs but back towards Treize.

The vampire sneered.

"He belongs to me."

"I think I've just demonstrated who he really belongs to, Treize. And I think you and I both know that if he summons his pack – who happen to be just a few hundred feet away – that this fight will turn a lot uglier than you want. I'm sure that I'll still lose, but you know I'll take at least a few of you with me. Now, let him go, and let's keep this between us, shall we?"

"Duo –" Trowa started.

"Trowa, I've already lost Solo today. I'm not losing you too."

"I'm not –"

"He's not going anywhere."

Duo's head snapped around to see Heero standing by the back entrance to the room, two pistols held out in front of him, one focused on Treize, the other on Zechs.

"We're finishing this fight. Right now."

Zechs sneered and launched himself at Heero at the same instant that Noin lunged towards Duo.

Trowa intercepted the vampire, and they both crashed to the ground. Duo tore his gaze away from them, forced concern for Heero out of his mind, and faced down Treize.

"I guess I'm taking back that offer," Duo said with a smirk.

"You have no idea just how little fear you inspire in me, Executioner," Treize spat. He slowly walked towards Duo, completely confident in his own superiority.

"You know, times like this, you might want to call me the God of Death instead," Duo suggested. He pulled the silver sword that Solo had given him from the sheath under his shirt.

Treize's eyes widened and then narrowed. He sneered and was about to offer a no doubt scathing retort, but Duo didn't give him the chance.

He leapt towards Treize, swinging the blade over his head and downwards, aiming for Treize's skull as he flew through the air.

Treize managed to dodge, but Duo instantly lashed out again, whipping the sword around to his side and catching Treize's arm.

The vampire hissed in pain and jerked away, cradling his arm.

Duo smirked.

"Careful, this thing is sharp."

Treize sneered.

"Unfortunately for you, your mind is no match for that blade."

Before Duo could work out just what Treize meant by that comment, Treize flicked his wrist in Duo's direction, and he was instantly paralyzed.

Vampires retained whatever magical gifts they might have had as humans before they Turned. Most Council vampires had been Ephemerals before they Turned. Jason had been an amazingly powerful Ephemeral, and had become an even more powerful vampire because of his gifts.

Noventa had cultivated an army of vampires, carefully choosing who he wished to Turn, always looking for someone extraordinary to add to his cohort. Treize he had chosen for the man's magical gifts and his passion for using them. Treize's magic was dark and dangerous that even Duo shied away from it, and it was unspeakably foolish for him to have left himself open to Treize's attack.

Treize could manipulate fear in his victims – enhancing their natural fears to the point that they were crippled, unable to even more; or eliminating their fear and making them nearly unstoppable in battle.

It had been too long since Duo had been subjected to Treize's magic, and he had completely forgotten just how strong and overwhelming it could be.

He had to fight to breathe, and his heart beat raced uncontrollably as his mind was forced to dwell on images of all the horrible ways that Heero and Trowa could be tortured and killed.

"Touching," Treize sneered. Another aspect of his power was his ability to see and manipulate fear. Duo deeply resented having the psychopath witness his darkest fears.

Duo struggled to find the will to move, but his arms and legs felt stiff and heavy, and even just the thought of moving was enough to have him gasping for breath again.

"Now, I think that our battle has gone on long enough, don't you?" Treize approached Duo and reached out to stroke his cheek. "I suppose, now, I understand why Jason found you so fascinating. It is curious, that someone like you has the capacity to care so deeply for creatures like those. And there's no denying that you have a certain amount of charm… still, good looks and a sharp wit can only carry you so far, it seems."

Treize drew a silver dagger from inside his vest. The same dagger that he had previously used on Duo.

"After I cut out your heart, I think I'll encase it in silver and have it send to Jason – a lovely memento, don't you think?"

Treize dragged the blade down Duo's chest, and the gesture would have been a caress if the blade wasn't cutting through Duo's clothes and burning into his skin. Treize stopped just above his heart and smirked.

"Goodbye – God of Death."

Treize started to shove the dagger into Duo's chest, and the pain was sharp and immediate. Duo tried to force himself to move, to react, to do anything to fight against the crippling fear and now the pain that speared through him.

"No!"

Treize's head whipped around at the shout, and he lost his concentration just enough that Duo was able to break free of his magic and gather his own. Duo quickly shielded himself, protecting his mind from further attacks, and then tried to pry Treize's knife out of his chest.

Before he could get very far, Treize's hand fell away and his chest virtually exploded in a shower of blood as an entire clip of silver bullets was emptied into his chest.

Duo pulled the dagger out of his chest, unable to stop his shout of pain as he did so, and he sank down to his knees beside Treize's body.

He tried to catch his breath and turned to survey the room.

Trowa had somehow managed to wrap both Noin and Meilin in the silver chains that had previously bond him, and was crossing the room to Duo. Heero looked to be in the process of very thoroughly killing Zechs and had one knife buried in his neck while he was using another to cut out his heart.

Which meant – who had shot Treize?

Sylvia and Urshanabi had remained seated at their thrones, as though this were all an elaborate play being performed for their amusement.

Duo turned to the front of the room just as Trowa reached him.

Solo was standing at the front of the hall, his bare chest covered in blood, breathing heavily, and a gun dangling from his grasp.

"Solo!" Duo staggered to his feet and started towards the other man, shaking off Trowa as he reached for him.

"Finish it," Solo said, stopping Duo halfway to him.

Duo turned back to Treize's body. It was nearly impossible that the vampire had survived that many bullets to his heart – likely the organ was just a bloody mass of shrapnel at this point – but Solo was right not to want to risk it.

He picked up the sword he had dropped and knelt over Treize's body. He carefully and precisely severed his head and tossed it as far away from the body as he could. Later, he would burn it. Later.

Solo collapsed onto the floor, as though waiting for Duo to finish executing Treize had been the only thing keeping him on his feet.

Duo staggered over to him, barely able to stand himself, and fell down beside him.

"Solo, please, please, don't do this to me."

"We're free of him now, Duo," Solo said with a smirk. "We finally got our revenge on that bastard, didn't we?" He coughed up blood and Duo held him tightly.

"No, not if you die, we didn't. You can't do this to me."

"Duo."

He turned to see Trowa standing over him.

Trowa was scowling and breathing heavily himself, and his scowl only deepened when he looked at Solo, cradled in Duo's lap.

"I can heal him," he said, and the reluctance in his voice might have been a living thing, it was so strong.

Duo opened his mouth to ask how, but Trowa continued.

"I felt it – him. I know you've renewed your bond. I can heal him, through you."

"Please?" Duo said and Trowa winced at his tone.

Trowa knelt down beside them and took Duo's head between his hands.

"Duo, look at me."

It was an effort to tear his gaze from Solo's face, but Duo did as instructed, prompted both by Trowa's voice and the golden tingle of magic that spread from his fingertips into Duo's skin.

Trowa closed the distance between them and kissed him lightly. The taste of cinnamon was as much a balm for Duo as the magic that rose between them, and he suddenly felt that the world was right again.

He could feel the magic spread through him, warming his entire body and healing the wound in his chest. The magic flowed into Solo, and he could feel it start to heal the other man as well.

After a few minutes, Trowa released him and eased back.

"Thank you," Duo said.

Trowa looked troubled, but he nodded.

"Everybody freeze! You are under arrest! You– Mother of God."

Duo looked up to see Wufei, Hilde, Quatre, and a swarm of federal agents enter the room, all with guns drawn.

Wufei's dark gaze was wide as it swept the room, surveying the bloody mess that were Treize and Zech's bodies.

Wufei looked down at Duo.

"You. You are under arrest."

"Same old, same old," Duo muttered. He freed himself from both Solo and Trowa. "Listen, Chang, we've got to stop meeting like this or –"

"Cuff him, the silver cuffs," Wufei instructed the agent to his left.

Duo sighed.

"I'm going to cooperate. I promise."

"Cooperate like this morning? When you destroyed our holding cells?"

"Er…"

"I trusted you, and you escaped and murdered two Council members, not to mention two vampires are being tortured and there's a room of shape shifters who claim you tried to kill them - and the one you actually did manage to kill!"

"Um, not all of that is my fault," Duo protested, and then frowned. Which shape shifter had he killed?

Wufei's eyes narrowed.

"Cuff him. Now."


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said, these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask before reprinting.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Angst, supernatural, AU, romance, violence, sex, language 

Pairings: 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.

Summary: Duo Maxwell vowed to walk away from the world of magic, but it just won't let him go. A tale of revenge and absolution, and finding romance along the way. 1x2, multiple other pairings.

" Umbra"

Chapter Twenty

It was times like this that Duo regretted ever opening his mouth.

When he had initially given Wufei and Hilde a list of equipment, tools, and devices they should invest in for capturing and neutralizing magic users he had never thought they would use them on him.

Now, however, he found himself in a silver coffin, awaiting his own execution. The bottom of the coffin was lined in velvet, so if Duo were very still and avoided touching the sides and top, he wasn't harmed. But any movement in any direction generally resulted in burning himself.

He had no idea how long he had been in the coffin – or even what was happening outside of it.

When Wufei had arrested him, he had also arrested Solo, Trowa, and Heero. As the four men had been led back through the penthouse and towards the elevator, Duo had tried to see through the sea of federal officers and learn which shape shifter had died. He hadn't thought he had done enough damage to Catharine to kill her, but maybe he had.

He wasn't able to see who the corpse on the floor was, and the other shape shifters had cleared the area. So the knowledge that he might have killed Trowa's sister haunted him as he lay in the coffin.

Along with the knowledge that Solo could very well be executed while he was trapped in the coffin and he would be unable to do anything about it – or even feel it.

That was the brilliant thing about a silver coffin. It completely contained a magic user physically and magically. Duo was cut off from Trowa, Hilde, and Solo just as surely as he had always been unable to magically connect with Heero.

It was beyond frustrating.

Finally, after what might have been a few hours or even a few years, the coffin lid was pulled back and a flood of harsh, fluorescent light streamed in.

"We have some questions for you," Wufei said, and the scowl on his face as he looked down at Duo was unreadable. "Hold out your hands so I can cuff them."

Duo instinctively jerked his hands back.

"Where is Solo? Heero and Trowa – are they okay? What –"

"We have questions, Maxwell," Wufei growled. "You don't get to ask anything."

"Then you can go to hell and just leave me in here." He settled back on the velvet.

Wufei arched an eyebrow, but when Duo crossed his arms he sighed.

"Answer our questions and then I will answer yours."

Duo knew it was the best offer he was likely to get from the null, so he cautiously climbed out of the coffin and was inordinately pleased with himself for not burning his skin on the sides.

He reached out with his magic, trying to feel Solo and Trowa. The shape shifter's magic instantly reached back towards him, and Duo was almost overwhelmed by the feeling of warmth it aroused in him. Solo, however, was unreachable. Duo tried not to think about all of the reasons for why he couldn't feel his master.

Wufei waved the cuffs in front of him and Duo reluctantly held out his wrists. He winced as Wufei snapped them on and they touched his skin, but he refused to give Wufei the satisfaction of complaining about it.

The FBI agent led the way to the conference room, and Duo was surprised to see Hilde, Sylvia, Relena, and Quatre already seated in the room.

Wufei shoved him into a chair before taking a seat beside him.

"Please describe the events of last night, Mr. Maxwell," Wufei began.

"Well –"

"Please, Agent Chang, you and I have already thoroughly discussed those events," Sylvia interjected. She shot Duo an icy look. "Duo and Solo Maxwell arrived during an argument between Zechs Merquise and Treize Khushrenada. They attempted to intervene, but Zechs and Treize, sadly, killed each other in the struggle."

Duo stared at her.

"Ms. Noventa, I would like to hear Mr. Maxwell's side of events, please," Wufei ground out. "Maxwell, please pay attention."

Duo couldn't take his eyes off of Sylvia. He was trying to figure out just what the vampire was up to. He looked over at Relena, and very suddenly realized that her brother was dead.

"Relena, I'm so sorry about –"

"Maxwell! Pay attention!" Wufei snapped.

Relena offered him a tearful smile.

"Just cooperate with him, Duo," she instructed.

Duo looked back at Sylvia, who arched an eyebrow in amusement.

"Well," he drawled, turning to Wufei, "I think that Sylvia summed it up pretty well. Solo and I arrived at the penthouse and –"

"What about the vampires? The dead ones?" Wufei jumped in.

Duo frowned. "They were already dead when we arrived?" He guessed, and was relieved when Sylvia inclined her head.

"Very well."

"So we sort of… stepped over the bodies and went to the Council hall."

"Why were you there in the first place?" Hilde asked, frowning slightly.

"Um," he looked to Sylvia for clues, but her face was blank. "Well, I'm sort of bonded to Trowa Barton, who was being tortured and Solo and I decided to and rescue him."

"Tortured by who?" Wufei asked. "Treize or Zechs?"

"Your wife, actually. She's the one who does that sort of thing."

A muscle in Wufei's jaw jumped.

"So… we freed him, restrained Noin and Meilin, and by that point Zechs and Treize had managed to kill each other."

"You're telling me that Treize managed to cut out Zechs heart and cut off his head while at the same time Zechs shot Treize full of so much silver we couldn't even find his heart, and cut off his head?"

Duo shrugged.

"Magic."

Wufei looked ready to kill him.

"So, now that I've answered your questions – where is Solo?"

"You haven't finished answering my questions, Maxwell."

"I have if you don't tell me where he is," Duo argued.

"He's safe," Hilde jumped in when Wufei looked ready to start yelling. "He's safe and he's in our custody and that's all you need to know for now. Please, Duo, just answer our questions."

He sighed. It wasn't enough information, but it was better than nothing.

"Fine, next question?"

Wufei scowled.

"The shape shifter you killed?"

"Is that the question? I don't even remember killing a shape shifter."

"Then perhaps it was your partner, Solo? The shape shifter in question had all of her magic and blood drained from her body."

Duo paled. That, at least, explained how Solo had gone from nearly dead to alive again.

"I – can't answer that question."

"And it is irrelevant, I have already answered that question," Sylvia snapped. "Honestly, Arbiter, if this is how your law enforcement insists on conducting investigations then perhaps the Council needs to revisit our initial idea to continue on with our own, completely independent justice system."

Quatre sighed. "It certainly feels as though you already are," he pointed out.

Duo frowned at the bitter tone of the Ephemeral's voice.

Quatre looked over at him.

"The Head of the Council and one of the most powerful Council members are dead," he began. "Since the two men killed each other, there is no successor to either of their seats. Meaning there is no Head of the North American Council. At present," he amended, when Sylvia glared at him, "Ms. Noventa is acting as the Head of the Council until arrangements can be made."

"Arrangements?" Duo echoed.

"Travel arrangements," Relena said, "for Jason."

Duo's jaw dropped.

"Jason – is coming here?"

She nodded.

"He feels that this entire situation was dealt with poorly and the circumstances merit his presence. Additionally, a new Head must be chosen, and it is his privilege to do so."

"Wow." Duo sat back in his seat. His mind was having trouble figuring everything out. "So…about me and the whole arresting me thing… I'm clear, right?"

"Yes," Wufei growled. "Both Ms. Noventa and Ms. Darlian have provided evidence that you have committed no crimes, and that whatever charges were brought against you by Mr. Khushrenada were false or exaggerated and that your position as Executioner for the Council exonerates you from any wrongdoing while completing your duties."

"Ah… thanks," he said to the two of them.

"There's more," Sylvia said, giving Wufei a meaningful look.

His scowl became so pronounced it looked painful.

"Your partner, Solo Maxwell, is similarly cleared of any wrongdoing. Ms. Noventa and several of her associates have given testimony that he, like you, was acting on Council orders, and that while his… executions might have resembled victims of a serial killer they were, in fact, sanctioned executions."

Duo couldn't help the look of shock on his face as he regarded Sylvia.

"What –"

"It's merely the truth, isn't it?" She interrupted him.

"I highly doubt that," Wufei growled. "And it certainly isn't justice. Those women –"

"Paid for their crimes, as we all must do," Sylvia interrupted him. "Your Arbiter has spent nearly a day trying to counter my arguments and has been unable to do so. Simply admit that you have NO case against either Duo or Solo Maxwell and release them. Of course, when Jason arrives, you are more than welcome to bring your arguments to him." She smiled sweetly. "After all, I'm only the temporary Head of the Council. None of my decisions are binding."

"Can I get these off, in that case?" Duo asked and held up his wrists.

Wufei slammed his fist on the table.

"This is madness! I know you've manipulated evidence and innocent people are dead and you expect me to release two men who have dozens if not hundreds of deaths on their hands? You can damn well bet I'll be taking it up with Jason when he arrives. And in the meantime," he turned a furious look on Duo, "if you or your partner do anything to break the law I will lock you back in your coffins and keep you there."

"But in the meantime…" Duo held his hands out again.

Wufei threw the keys to the cuffs at him.

"Do it yourself. You can use magic, can't you?" He spat before storming out of the room.

With a sigh and an apologetic look to Duo, Hilde followed him.

Very carefully Duo freed himself from the cuffs.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked the three magic users left in the office.

"He might not see it as justice, but I'm sure you and I can agree that this telling of events is the most profitable for all involved?" Sylvia suggested.

"Profitable for me and Solo, sure. But for you?"

"Arbiter, you recently became a Council member. How did you inherit your seat?" Sylvia turned to Quatre.

"By defeating Alexios," the blonde responded with a frown.

"Hm. I earned my seat similarly, Relena did you not as well?"

"Of course."

"Yes, well, while we can all agree that it is highly unlikely that Treize and Zechs managed to kill each other, we can all agree that it is impossible to think that a null and a psychotic serial killer would have done so and therefore inherited their Council seats."

Duo blinked. Now it made sense.

"So you're spreading this… version of the truth so that Solo won't be the new Head of the North American Council."

"Partly."

"Partly?" He echoed.

"Jason has always appreciated you more than any of us found reasonable," Sylvia said with a slight grimace. "When he arrives to fill the empty Council seats and promote a new Head I expect your full support. You owe it to me, for killing my father, and for this favor. I've kept you and your master alive, and in return I want your devoted service."

Duo felt like laughing, and was barely able to restrain himself from doing so.

Sylvia had always been on the periphery of Council politics. She had supported her father, but otherwise kept clear of any entanglements and power struggles. Duo never would have thought she was interested in ruling a Council, and certainly never would have expected her to so tidily orchestrate events to suit her desires.

"Your father would be so damned proud of you right now," he couldn't help saying. "Christ, I'll bet he's laughing his ass off right now at this turn of events." He shook his head.

"Well?" Sylvia prompted. "Do I have your support or shall I call in Agent Chang and tell him that I was mistaken, under your spell, or some other nonsense?"

"Oh you have it, but I just want to say that I think you're overestimating my influence with Jason."

"She isn't," Relena insisted with a scowl.

It was then that Duo realized that, as upset as Relena looked, she wasn't that upset about her brother's death. If anything, she seemed frustrated with Sylvia. Duo shook his head – he had always known that Relena wanted to be the Head of a Council, and no doubt she wanted that position every bit as much as Sylvia.

"Well, if you've got your Council politics sufficiently sorted out," Quatre interrupted, "I'd like to point out that all of this was achieved by the sacrifice of innocent, human life. And this little bargain isn't likely to keep that from happening again, is it?" He turned to Duo with a fierce gaze. "You and I both know how dangerous Solo is, and we know that his murders were not Council sanctioned executions. I know he's your lover and your master, but I also know who you are, Duo, and I know that you care enough about protecting innocent humans to know that this is wrong."

Duo swallowed hard, because Quatre had summed up his feeling son the matter perfectly. That didn't mean he had any idea what he should do.

Quatre stood.

"I have paperwork to orchestrate," he said as an excuse and left the room without another word.

"What happens to Trowa?" Duo asked Sylvia.

"Your pet?" She teased.

Duo glared at her.

"Honestly, you know that I've never had an interest in shape shifter politics. Do what you want with him." She shrugged. "And your null, for that matter." She sat up straighter and her next words chilled Duo. "But if he sets foot on Council property again I will order his execution, and I will force you to carry it out. He has no place in our world and the next time he interferes will be his last, do you understand?"

Duo reluctantly nodded.

"Good." Sylvia smiled and stood. "Then I think we are done here. Relena, come, there is a delightful show I wanted to take you to tonight. It's called Chippendales and I think you will love it."

The two women walked out and Duo, after a moment, followed them.

He found Heero, Trowa, Solo, Wufei, and Hilde waiting for him in the front of the building. Solo was in a new shirt, and both Heero and Trowa were in fresh clothes.

Duo brushed his magic against Hilde's, silently thanking her.

"Why did you even call us?" Wufei demanded angrily.

Duo shrugged. "I'm a law abiding citizen. A crime was being committed and I reported it."

"Apparently there were no crimes to report," Wufei spat, "or were you not in the same room as I was ten minutes ago?"

"Maybe I was in a different room," Duo said, "because I seem to remember it being reported that a shape shifter was being tortured for nothing more than existing. Which, whaddya know, you humans think is a crime. So do something about that, will you?"

Wufei looked ready to attack him, but Hilde put a hand on his arm. He shook her off and stalked away.

"Duo, why did you call me?" She asked softly.

"Honestly?" He grinned ruefully. "I wanted you to know that Treize had killed me. I wanted someone to know that I'd died at his hands."

Her dark eyes went wide and she hugged him.

"I don't want to be the person you call so that someone knows you died, Duo. I want to be the person you call to fight by your side." She whispered the words in his ear and he hugged her back before stepping away.

"I'll keep that in mind," he promised her.

She walked away and he was left alone with three very angry looking men.

"Let's get out of here, huh?" He suggested.

When he stepped outside he let out a breath of relief. The night air was cold and crisp, and he found it to be practically soothing after the time spent in the silver coffin.

He drew in a deep breath and then turned around to face the others. He looked directly at Solo first.

"Who did you kill? Which shape shifter?"

"The woman," Solo said with a frown and a shrug. "I needed –"

"Which woman?" Duo interrupted him.

"Martha," Trowa growled. "He killed Martha."

Duo knew he should be relieved that it hadn't been Catharine, but the knowledge that Solo had killed Martha filled him with rage. The woman had lived through so much torture and had been filled with such rage and desire for revenge. To die like that, at Solo's hands, in that way, was not what he would have wanted for her.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. Martha had also been his last living link to Anthony, and it was because of Duo that she was now dead.

"It wasn't your sister, was it?" Solo pointed out with a growl of his own.

"She was a member of my pack," Trowa insisted. "If you harm any of my pack again I will -"

"You'll do nothing," Solo interrupted Trowa, "and you and I both –"

"You killed an innocent woman!" Duo shouted, silencing both men. "Not just one, but a dozen!"

Solo arched an eyebrow.

"So you'd rather I be dead? Would you have preferred me to bleed to death – forgotten, once again, by you?"

"No, and damn my soul to hell for it, but I'm glad that you're alive." Duo groaned. "I –"

"Could we move the shouting about murders away from the FBI headquarters?" Heero suddenly suggested.

Duo looked over at him and noticed that, unlike Solo, Trowa, and Duo, he seemed remarkably calm and collected. Then again, Heero always appeared like that, especially when he was an internal mess.

Duo sighed at the realization.

"Yes," he said. "I'd like some dinner."

"You want to shout about murder inside a restaurant?" Trowa asked, and the tone of his voice, while still angry, held the faintest hint of humor in it.

Duo smirked at him.

"Only over appetizers," he assured the shape shifter.

"Let's go to Firefly, it's loud enough that if we do shout about murder we won't be overheard," Trowa suggested.

"Also loud enough we won't be able to hear ourselves," Duo muttered. He remembered his date with Trowa and what a struggle it had been to hear the man. Still, it had been worth it.

"Firefly?" Solo asked.

"It's good food. Tapas – mostly Mediterranean things, so you should like it," Duo assured him.

"Also where we had our first date," Trowa added with a smirk and Heero chuckled.

Solo glared at him.

"For fuck's sake," Duo muttered. "Can we just go eat?" He waved down a cab and got into it as soon as it stopped, hardly caring if the others joined him.

They did, with Solo very reluctantly taking the front seat, and Heero and Trowa sitting on either side of Duo in the back, their possessiveness almost overwhelming him.

"Firefly," Duo told the driver.

The cab ride was completely, painfully silent.

The meal that followed was even more painful, and Duo was on the brink of calling Wufei and confessing to murdering ANYONE just to escape the torture that was Heero and Trowa glaring at Solo, with him glaring back just as strongly.

"Where is your car?" Duo asked Trowa after dinner, as they waited for a cab.

"At Mandalay," Trowa said. He cast a suspicious look at Solo.

"Fine. Let's go back there and talk."

"In his car?" Solo asked. "I have a car, we can talk in my car."

"You hate cars," Heero and Trowa pointed out at the same time.

"Yeah, but not as much as I hate other things at the moment. We just need to be able to talk in private and, hell, do any you have any better suggestions?"

"A hotel room?" Solo said. "You like to pace when you shout at people." He gave Trowa and Heero a superior look, as though there was some unspoken contest to see who knew Duo better.

"Fine," Duo snapped before anyone else could say anything. "The Westin is across the street."

He led the sullen group to the hotel and unhesitatingly paid the ridiculously high price for a room at the last minute.

Once all of them were inside the hotel suite, Duo locked the door.

The room was long, with a king sized bed at one end, and a living room area complete with a couch and loveseat separated it from the bathroom.

Trowa and Heero sat on the couch, leaving the spot between them conspicuously wide, and Solo sat on one side of the loveseat.

With a groan of frustration Duo walked past all of them and sat on the bed.

It was hard to look angry and imposing while sitting cross-legged on the unbelievably and distractingly soft mattress, but it was better than sitting with any of the other men at the moment.

"We have a problem," Duo started.

"You think?" Solo echoed. He glared at Trowa and Heero.

"Not – yes, obviously we have a problem, but there's more. Jason is coming here, to clean up the mess after Treize's and Zech's double murder."

Solo paled a little.

"Why? Why does he need to clean it up? Seems pretty well handled already."

Duo sighed.

"Sylvia told the Feds that Zechs and Treize killed each other."

"Why?" Heero asked.

"So that you and Solo wouldn't get Council seats," Trowa answered for Duo, his voice a mixture of amusement and respect. "Her worst nightmare would be for Solo to be the Head of the Council, and it's not possible for a null to inherit a seat."

Duo nodded.

"Yeah, and in return for Sylvia's… creative memory, I have to support her bid for Council Head when Jason arrives."

"Sylvia is… intelligent and certainly more mentally balanced than most of the Council members," Trowa said.

"I agree. But it looks like Relena wants that seat as well – I guess she's tired of being Jason's lapdog after all this time."

"I'm not sure why this is a problem, for us," Heero interjected.

"Relena and Sylvia are less of an issue – except for the fact that I owe both of them life debts – than Jason is."

"I'm not letting that bastard take me prisoner again," Solo growled. "I will not spend another four hundred years in a coffin because of him."

"You mean because of ME," Duo corrected him. "It's my fault he put you in there in the first place."

"It's not just your fault," Solo said with a sigh. "We both –"

"No, actually it is my fault." Duo drew in a deep breath. "Jason's a vampire, and he's been around for a long, long time, and he's had the power and appetite to taste a lot of Old Ones and Ephemerals over the years. When we were first taken prisoner, Solo, he… sampled me, let's say, to decide if I was worth keeping alive or not."

"I remember," Solo bit out. "You were nearly dead when he was finished with you."

"That's because he really, really likes the way I taste."

Heero frowned.

"You taste different from other faeries?"

"Yeah. I mean, if we're talking tastiest race – Light Court Faeries are hands down the winners, but something about me being half Dark Court and half djinn, I guess, makes me even better."

"So you're concerned that when Jason visits he'll want to… indulge?" Trowa suggested.

"Well, yeah, that's a given. But it's not just the blood."

"You slept with him," Solo suggested with a sneer.

"Yes, I did. I was his lover for over a hundred years."

He sighed and tried to think of the best way to tell them his real concern, and decided to simply be blunt about it.

"Jason let me leave him under two conditions – the first was that I continue to serve him, the second was that the next time we met I wouldn't leave him. Ever again."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Up Next: Penumbra

End Notes:

Thank you so very much to everyone who read this. I am constantly amazed that anyone bothers with reading my work, and very honored that you take the time to read not only a few thousand words – but an entire story!

And then I punish you by drawing it out to two stories, and ending the first on, well, I think I have to call it a cliff hanger.

Originally, I conceived Umbra as a three part arc – the first being a bit of a prequel with a fair amount of overlap into what Umbra became; the second part would have been a fair amount of Umbra and Penumbra; and the third would have been Penumbra and a little bit past where that story will actually go. I changed it, obviously, and dropped off the parts that would have occurred before Umbra. I think that the story reads better this way, and I think there was only so much time readers would have invested with just Duo and a fair number of OCs.

Umbra has been a really wonderful experience for me, both because of the support and reviews from so many readers, but also because it made me come to terms with Heero. Before this story, I really, really didn't care much for him. That may or may not be easy to pick up from A Little Less Normal, but I have struggled with him since I first watched the series ten years ago and continue to do so. Until now! I've truly grown to like him, and I'm looking forward to writing more with him in the future.


	21. Chapter 21

So, what ever happened to  _ Penumbra _ , that fabled  _ Umbra _ sequel?

Have you been waiting for it for  _ FIVE YEARS _ ?

 

I’m sorry it’s taken so long, and I’m sure that a lot of old fans of  _ Umbra _ \- and Gundam Wing - have moved on to other fandoms.

I’ve taken several writing hiatuses over the past five years, and I’ve had some major life changes - personally and professionally.

When I first wrote  _ Umbra, _ I was in the first year of a tenure-track faculty position at a small liberal arts college way down south. I left it last May, after five years of work that represented the highlights - and absolute nightmares - of my life. I was passionate about the work and the students.

But then my husband took a job nine hundred miles away and we decided to start a family.

So…

I now have a daughter - almost nine months old - and I’m trying to cobble together part-time teaching and freelance work. It’s been tough,  _ really _ tough, but I’ve decided to focus more on my writing - my fanfiction and my original fiction.

To that end, I’ve started a Patreon page (patreon dot com backslash ClaraBarton) asking for support from my readers. I’ve tried to make the rewards worthwhile, and I hope that there are folks out there who have the money to be able to support this endeavor.

 

But back to  _ Penumbra _ \- I haven’t forgotten about it (and by the way, I’m assuming you've read  _ Revenant _ ? The prequel to  _ Umbra _ that actually sets up  _ Penumbra _ ?).

In fact, I’m adding this epilogue to  _ Umbra _ because, with your help, I’d like to sit down and start writing it.

 

If I can meet my monthly Patreon goal, I’m going to start writing  _ Penumbra _ . That might seem a little unfair, a little mercenary even, and if that upsets you and I lose you as a fan forever, then I will be sorry to see you go.

 

But, as I state on my Patreon page, if I can make that monthly goal, it will pay for my daughter’s diapers and baby food.

 

Not to mention, in addition to YOUR support making  _ Penumbra _ happen, there are some pretty sweet deals for you - support levels are as low as $2 a month, and each level comes with some sweet perks, from exclusive one-shots to voting on fic updates to  _ personal _ one-shots and more.

 

So… not to put too fine a point on it, but I’d love to start writing  _ Penumbra, _ and I’d love to have your help.

 

Thank you all for your continued support.

 

-Clara

 


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